91
Metascore
9 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100L.A. WeeklyAlan ScherstuhlL.A. WeeklyAlan ScherstuhlThe film, a sort of cinematic state-of-the-arts speech, is endlessly warm, playful and lovable, a sprawling and prankish hangout comedy with no clear precedent.
- 100Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangLos Angeles TimesJustin ChangWang, weaving deftly in and out of his ensemble and revealing the characters’ interconnected relationships in piecemeal fashion, shows how the bonds of community and activism intersect, not always conveniently, with those of love and family.
- 100RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzRogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzA Bread Factory is an idealistic statement about the importance of art in everyday life. It's about how a scene from a play or a line from a poem can cast a new light on your problems or dreams, maybe put a whole new frame around your life, your community, and the culture and nation that helped shape you.
- 91The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyThe A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyDespite Wang’s habit of casual stylistic quotation (riffing on Ingmar Bergman’s compressed close-ups here, Wes Anderson’s whip pans there), A Bread Factory remains stubbornly its own thing.
- 90The New York TimesBilge EbiriThe New York TimesBilge EbiriPatrick Wang’s A Bread Factory has an immense cast, a deliberate pace and thematic ambition to spare — but it also has a ground-level, plain-spoken modesty that renders it hypnotic.
- 88Slant MagazineJake ColeSlant MagazineJake ColeWang’s particular skill as a filmmaker is his ability to approach well-worn narrative devices from fresh angles, and here he manages to defend the importance of art, attack the neoliberal devastation of cultural liberalism, and argue for the renewed public commitment to the arts from a wryly comic perspective that eschews sentimentality.
- 85TheWrapRobert AbeleTheWrapRobert AbeleThere’s nothing else out there like Patrick Wang’s two-part, four-hour labor of love, A Bread Factory, and that’s wholly a good thing.
- 75Film Journal InternationalSimi HorwitzFilm Journal InternationalSimi HorwitzPart One, subtitled For the Sake of Gold, is original and intriguing.
- 67Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiAustin ChronicleJosh KupeckiThe film is episodic and often veers into hit-or-miss flights of fancy.