Movie Review for Barbarian Invasions, The

Summary: A revisiting, some 15 years later, of the principal characters of Denys Arcand's 1986 comedy drama film, "The Decline of the American Empire." Rémy, now divorced and in his early fifties, is hospitalized. His ex-wife, Louise, asks their son Sébastien to come home from London where he now lives. Sébastien hesitates; he and his father haven't had much to say to one another for years now. He relents, however, and flies to Montreal to help his mother and support his father. As soon as he arrives, Sébastien moves heaven and earth, brings his contacts into play and disrupts the system in every way possible to ease the ordeal that awaits Rémy. Around his father's bedside, Sébastien also reunites the merry band of folk who were all players in Rémy's complicated past: relatives, friends and former mistresses.

                         Reviews of Barbarian Invasions, The
By Mike DeWolfe of Apollo Guide (7/0)
            Its personal and intimate moments are profound; they transcend cultural boundaries with the capac...

By Phil Villarreal of Arizona Daily Star (7/0)
            The spirited talks are the heart of the movie.

By Philip Martin of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (7/0)
            ...an almost documentary truth to the performances, a un-movieish consistency of tone that makes ...

By Marjorie Baumgarten of Austin Chronicle (7/0)
            A sharp-witted delight.

By Nev Pierce of BBC (7/0)
            Warm, wise and witty.

By Ty Burr of Boston Globe (7/0)
            The Barbarian Invasions flirts with shallow pieties and glib wisdom, but in the end it dives into...

                         Reviews of Barbarian Invasions, The
By Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times (6/1)
            The Barbarian Invasions is manipulative without apology, and we want it to be.

By Michael Wilmington of Chicago Tribune (7/0)
            A film that effortlessly makes you laugh with delight, cringe with pain and weep for life's inevi...

By Jules Brenner of Cinema Signals (7/0)
            While this film is awash in talk, providing an outlet for the gamut of filmmaker Arcand's heavy t...

By Mark Palermo of Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia) (7/0)
            If there’s anything less appealing than movies about gradual death, it’s movies where various cha...

By Jeffrey M. Anderson of Combustible Celluloid (7/0)
            Arcand's fluid camera weaves through the hallways and casually surveys the characters' faces, rem...

By Harvey S. Karten of Compuserve (7/0)
            Witty interchanges hit satirical targets.

                         Reviews of Barbarian Invasions, The
By John J. Puccio of DVDTown.com (7/0)
            The occasion is death, but the movie is a joyous celebration of life.

By Eugene Novikov of Film Blather (7/0)
            "The history of mankind is a history of horrors," says Remy in one of his pontificating moods. So...

By Bill Chambers of Film Freak Central (7/0)
            Stilted yet emotionally successful

By Erica Abeel of Film Journal International (7/0)
            Swarming with ideas, the film never turns schematic or hectoring.

By Norm Schrager of filmcritic.com (7/0)
            it's refreshing to hear talk about great thinkers, good books, and the dreams of men.

By Kent Turner of Film-Forward.com (7/0)
            And underwhelming is any film that uses footage of the attack on the World Trade Center for one o...

                         Reviews of Barbarian Invasions, The
By Edward Havens of FilmJerk.com (7/0)
            A film with a sense of joy and wonder as it celebrates our existence, while reminding us of some ...

By Bruce Kirkland of Jam! Movies (7/0)
            There is a lot to ponder, a lot to feel, in this elegiac film.

By Ella Taylor of L.A. Weekly (7/0)
            [A] deep and marvelously humane film.

By Robert Roten of Laramie Movie Scope (7/0)
            Beautifully-written followup to writer-director Denys Arcand's earlier film, “The Decline of the ...

By John Larsen of Light Views (4/3)
            Arcand's dialogue reverberates with wit and reflection, and is perfectly deployed by an ensemble ...

By Jay Antani of Los Angeles Alternative (7/0)
            ...jerkily paced, dramatically obvious, and seems penned by a self-serious 16-year-old

                         Reviews of Barbarian Invasions, The
By Kenneth Turan of Los Angeles Times (7/0)
            [A] surprisingly moving film.

By Duane Dudek of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (7/0)
            Arcand finds the heart of the matter in every scene and in each monologue.

By Kevin N. Laforest of Montreal Film Journal (7/0)
            A welcomed return to form for Denys Arcand, his best film in more than a decade.

By Ken Hanke of Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) (7/0)
            At a time when theaters are full of explosions, revenge scenarios and over-the-top sadism, it's a...

By David N. Butterworth of Movie Boeuf (7/0)
            Taking themes and ideas from Kurosawa's Ikuru and Kasdan's The Big Chill (to name a few), directo...

By Marty Mapes of Movie Habit (7/0)
            In spite of their differences, father and son finally become close

                         Reviews of Barbarian Invasions, The
By D.K. Holm of Movie Poop Shoot (7/0)
             It may seem counter intuitive to insist that a film about illness, death, and aging is delightfu...

By Kevin A. Ranson of MovieCrypt.com (7/0)
            Life, liberty, and the pursuit of loose women; it’s wonderful to be dying in Montreal.

By Andrew Sarris of New York Observer (7/0)
            One of the most intelligent and articulate entertainments of the year from any country.

By Frank Swietek of One Guy's Opinion (7/0)
            Visually 'The Barbarian Invasions' has a nice surface, but the more one listens to it the more ep...

By Wesley Lovell of Oscar Guy (7/0)
            Arcand gives us a wonderful portrait of real people forced to reconcile their pasts against a cer...

By Dennis Schwartz of Ozus' World Movie Reviews (7/0)
            I think before this filmmaker casts his barbarian stones, he should look at himself.

                         Reviews of Barbarian Invasions, The
By Susan Tavernetti of Palo Alto Weekly (7/0)
            Like an alchemist, Arcand has transformed a film of ideas into an emotional experience.

By Frédéric Rochefort-Allie of Panorama (7/0)
            Un film qui s'inscrit avec raison dans les annales du cinéma Québécois.

By Jon Popick of Planet Sick-Boy (7/0)
            The only thing that separates Invasions from vile tripe like Stepmom and Sweet November is the la...

By David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews (7/0)
            Arcand does a fantastic job of establishing these folks to the point where we really feel like we...

By Timothy Knight of Reel.com (7/0)
            A poignant and thoughtful depiction of the need for forgiveness and reconciliation.

By Laura Clifford of Reeling Reviews (7/0)
            a sentimental homage to a big, broad life that rarely turns mawkish

                         Reviews of Barbarian Invasions, The
By Robin Clifford of Reeling Reviews (7/0)
            There are some pluses to Barbarian Invasion, ... with a gruffly touching performance as the famil...

By James Berardinelli of ReelViews (7/0)
            In the end, our tears are because we identify with these characters, not because the script has i...

By Peter Travers of Rolling Stone (7/0)
            Moves you to laughter and tears without cheating to do it.

By Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com (7/0)
            French-Canadian director Denys Arcand revisits the aging intellectuals from The Decline of the Am...

By Jean Lowerison of San Diego Metropolitan (7/0)
            Will please relationship junkies.

By Paula Nechak of Seattle Post-Intelligencer (7/0)
            Finds a grace that pulls us in even though its focus is a man who is cantankerously self-deluded,...

                         Reviews of Barbarian Invasions, The
By Rich Cline of Shadows on the Wall (7/0)
            Besides being a witty look at life, death and relationships, this is also a startlingly insightfu...

By Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine (7/0)
            Privileged audiences that swooned for Decline of the American Empire should expect more of the sa...

By David Edelstein of Slate (7/0)
            Pungently funny and heartfelt.

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat of Spirituality and Practice (7/0)
            A bracing Canadian comedy about all those bothersome forces that unsettle our lives along with th...

By Michael Drakulich of Star Newspapers (Chicago, IL) (7/0)
            Sweet and poignant; perceptive and true.

By Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone of TheMovieChicks.com (7/0)
            A bittersweet family story with a great deal of warmth and humor.

                         Reviews of Barbarian Invasions, The
By Audrey Rock-Richardson of Tooele Transcript-Bulletin (Utah) (7/0)
            Terribly long-winded and uninspiring.

By Ken Fox of TV Guide's Movie Guide (7/0)
            The film will be best enjoyed by fans eager to spend another 90 minutes with a group of old frien...

By John Beifuss of Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) (3/5) Login Required (Login Required)
            Covers familiar movie-of-the-week territory... but the acting and writing are sharp enough to tra...

By A. O. Scott of New York Times (3/5) Login Required (Login Required)
            What makes The Barbarian Invasions much more than a facile exercise in generational conflict is t...

By Christopher Smith of Bangor Daily News (Maine) (5/2) No reference
            The film's emotional ending is deeply felt and powerful, examining the pain and the humor of life...

By Boyd van Hoeij of bibloi.com (3/4) No reference
            If you are looking for a genre-defying film, funny, dramatic, intelligent and social comment all ...

                         Reviews of Barbarian Invasions, The
By Mary Colbert of Boxoffice Magazine (3/4) No reference
            There are no false, sentimental or maudlin turns here.

By Rob Thomas of Capital Times (Madison, WI) (3/4) No reference
            Scathingly funny and movingly elegaic.

By Pablo Villaca of Cinema em Cena (3/4) No reference
            Um daqueles raros exemplares que não alimentam apenas a mente, mas também o coração.

By Arthur Lazere of culturevulture.net (3/4) No reference
            If your tears flow (which they assuredly will), they will be cathartic tears, tears as much of jo...

By Michael Booth of Denver Post (3/4) No reference
            Fun to watch.

By Robert Denerstein of Denver Rocky Mountain News (3/4) No reference
            Although I had a mixed reaction to the movie, I recommend it for its willingness to acknowledge m...

                         Reviews of Barbarian Invasions, The
By Jeffrey Bruner of Des Moines Register (3/4) No reference
            Arcand's screenplay is bold and feisty; his film is witty and acerbic at times, yet long-winded a...

By Jeff Vice of Deseret News, Salt Lake City (6/1) No reference
            One of those rare movie sequels that's actually better than its predecessor.

By Jake Euker of F5 (Wichita, KS) (6/1) No reference
            Its most poignant observation is that these barbarians, being our own sons and daughters, are alr...

By KJ Doughton of Film Threat (3/4) No reference
            Like an encounter with Remy the man, Barbarian Invasions is an emotional, infuriating journey tha...

By Pam Grady of FilmStew.com (3/4) No reference
            Croze's award-winning performance is impressive: bruised, vulnerable, but still spirited as she a...

By Donald Munro of Fresno Bee (3/4) No reference
            You get to experience the sentiment without drowning in it; and you get a sharp-edged ideological...

                         Reviews of Barbarian Invasions, The
By Loey Lockerby of Kansas City Star (3/4) No reference
            By the time Arcand reaches his final scenes, he has revealed one generation's regrets and disappo...

By Glenn Whipp of Los Angeles Daily News (3/4) No reference
            Death has no sting here.

By Jeff Strickler of Minneapolis Star Tribune (3/4) No reference
            Arcand avoids the temptation of turning the story into a tear-jerker.

By Gabriel Shanks of Mixed Reviews (3/4) No reference
            One feels awestruck by Arcand's accomplishment: starkly aware of life's beauty, its fragility, an...

By Bob Campbell of Newark Star-Ledger (3/4) No reference
            If secular humanism were an actual religion, The Barbarian Invasions would be recognized as a rel...

By Gene Seymour of Newsday (3/4) No reference
            The banter ... is thick enough to rake -- and often way too thick to swallow, even for those who ...

                         Reviews of Barbarian Invasions, The
By Shawn Levy of Oregonian (3/4) No reference
            A lively, funny, touching film.

By Roger Moore of Orlando Sentinel (3/4) No reference
            A nicely balanced blend of sentiment and acrid wit.

By Gary Thompson of Philadelphia Daily News (3/4) No reference
            A sophisticated take on what has become a familiar situation in movies and television -- the hipp...

By Jack Garner of Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (6/1) No reference
            The performances are first-rate, especially from Girard. Arcand's direction is heartfelt and artf...

By Joe Baltake of Sacramento Bee (6/1) No reference
            It's quite depressing to find that these self-absorbed people haven't really changed, that they s...

By Sean Means of Salt Lake Tribune (3/4) No reference
            Even if you never saw 'Decline of the American Empire,' you can feel the 'Big Chill' vibe running...

                         Reviews of Barbarian Invasions, The
By David Elliott of San Diego Union-Tribune (3/4) No reference
            Arcand dearly likes his characters, but here's another movie cancer death nearly devoid of mess a...

By Chris Hewitt (St. Paul) of St. Paul Pioneer Press (3/4) No reference
            Basically, it's The Big Chill, but more full of itself and not as entertaining.

By John A. Nesbit of ToxicUniverse.com (6/1) No reference
            represents an artistic ideal of how we'd all like to end things

By Enrique Buchichio of Uruguay Total (3/4) No reference
            Es con extraordinaria sutileza que el canadiense Denys Arcand nos va metiendo en -y haciendo part...

By Desson Thomson of Washington Post (3/4) No reference
            Admirable in its refusal to be politically correct.

By Jeffrey Chen of Window to the Movies (3/4) No reference
            [I] felt it was trying to do too much with what looked increasingly like a fantasy premise.

                         Reviews of Barbarian Invasions, The
By Michael Szymanski of Zap2it.com (6/1) No reference
            The film is enchantingly photographed, but emotionally devoid, which is odd, considering the subj...

By Rene Rodriguez of Miami Herald (6/1) Not Reachable
            The characters' endless conversations, which range from health care to Mao to heroin, are never l...

By Ian Grey of Orlando Weekly (3/4) Not Reachable
            Sébastien, Nathalie and the film's other secondary characters are neat, shaded creations ably pla...

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