55
Metascore
6 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlVillage VoiceAlan ScherstuhlThe film's brittle and quiet, on occasion touched with the techniques of horror, especially as Helena stalks her store after hours. It's also trenchant, stinging, and acted with great frumping subtlety.
- 70The New York TimesAndy WebsterThe New York TimesAndy WebsterThe filmmakers, largely forgoing a soundtrack, skillfully manipulate stillness, silence and anomie to unsettling effect.
- 60The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungThe Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungThere is a darkness in all these “average” characters, underlined by low-key acting and the film’s sinisterly calm, measured pace.
- 50VarietyJay WeissbergVarietyJay WeissbergHard Labor teeters uncertainly between horror and social commentary. It feels as if the helmers tried to imagine what Bunuel would have done if he had made a horror film.
- 50Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayLos Angeles TimesNoel MurrayAt its best, the film has the quality of a nightmare, one that keeps happening whether the characters are asleep or awake.
- 38Slant MagazineDiego SemereneSlant MagazineDiego SemereneThe allegorical possibilities of a disintegrating wall point to a film that could have been.