80
Metascore
9 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100VarietyJessica KiangVarietyJessica KiangJia’s risky experiment is so uncannily successful that it is possible to come away from “Tides” with the whimsical impression that this was the film he was building toward all this time, as though all those lauded previous movies were simply him amassing the raw material for this one.
- 85The Film VerdictDeborah YoungThe Film VerdictDeborah YoungRe-shuffling footage from films he has shot over the last 23 years, Jia Zhang-ke places his awe-inspiring cinematic mastery on full display in Caught by the Tides, though its ravishing poetic beauty tends to obscure the story.
- 80The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawThis is another deeply felt film from Jia Zhangke, with a very contemporary artistry.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyZhao’s face is one of the most transfixingly expressive in modern cinema, and her long collaboration with her husband Jia stands among the screen’s greatest actress-director unions.
- 80Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganScreen DailyFionnuala HalliganAn expression of his career-long preoccupations, Jia Zhang-ke’s odyssey through China since the turn of the century has an epic sense within a homespun feel.
- 80Time OutDave CalhounTime OutDave CalhounCaught by the Tides is more a montage of music and miscellaneous episodes than anything representing a traditional drama. It’s strongly propelled by music – from Chinese classical music to techno to rock – and it’s a heady visual mix of styles and formats: from grainy, phone-like footage in a documentary style, to much more pristine and considered imagery.
- 79TheWrapSteve PondTheWrapSteve PondCaught by the Tides is an elegy of sorts, at times angry and abrasive but more often gentle and reflective.
- 75The Film StageRory O'ConnorThe Film StageRory O'ConnorThere were times in Tides when I began wondering just how often one can go back to the well.
- 67IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichCaught by the Tides” is by nature an imprecise film, tethered to the buoys that Jia has collected over the years and prone to drifting through time without any clear sense of where it might take it.