Blue Caprice 2013

Christy Lemire, ChristyLemire.com: Blue Caprice takes a true story of violence and panic and tells it in the most artful, understated manner imaginable - which makes its events even more powerful. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: The movie substitutes milky, washed-out color and funereal music for insight. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: To the relief of the public around the District of Columbia, the Beltway sniper case was solved a long time ago. But in some respects, Mr. Moors's haunting film suggests, it is still a mystery. Read more

Matthew Kassel, New York Observer: The most frightening monster movie of the year. Read more

John Anderson, Wall Street Journal: Viewers may crave more anatomy of murder, but unlike Mr. Muhammad, Mr. Moors isn't on a mission. What he and his actors are interested in is character. Read more

Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times: If Moors and Porto were aiming for gun-debate relevance, they've failed; "Blue Caprice" has nothing to say about a society plagued by violence, nor does it focus on mental illness as a probable cause. Read more

Nick Schager, AV Club: In search of answers for why a man and his surrogate son terrorized Washington, D.C., with a sniper rifle in October 2002, Blue Caprice proffers an intimate portrait devoid of sympathy. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Moors is neither showy nor exploitative in his telling of the story. He just lays out the details, making "Blue Caprice" not just a story of horror, but of tragedy. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The film's a character piece with a tightening noose of suspense, and while it has its artsy-indie-dawdly moments, it's disturbing in ways that aren't easy to shake. Read more

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: Although the actors are fine, writer-director Alexandre Moors's feature debut suffers from a lulling tonal sameness. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Coolly controlled and extremely well-acted. Read more

Wesley Morris, Grantland: The film creates one of the most chillingly becalmed portraits of insanity I've seen. Read more

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: The filmmakers have made a smart, sobering movie that speculates with compelling detachment on how the abhorrent urge to take innocent lives might evolve. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: The grainy texture of the imagery is darkly arresting. Isaiah Washington is charismatic and fearsome, channeling a toxic mix of compassion and rage. Read more

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times: Don't miss it. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: This lyrical, frightening film is a portrait of a man consumed by self-hatred who decided to take it out on the world. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: The entire movie is an experiment in disturbance -- that of the characters, as well as the audience. The results are nerve-racking, and resonant. Read more

Ian Buckwalter, NPR: May be a frustrating film for viewers looking for a straight piece of historical fiction...This is no photograph, but an impressionistic sketch of the communicability of evil - and in that respect it's a powerful piece of filmmaking. Read more

Jordan Hoffman, New York Daily News: Moors turns the project into something of an art film, requiring patience for repetitive editing and slow-burn scenes before the movie ultimately works itself under your skin. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: The strongest film I've seen in the first couple of days at Sundance is the riveting thriller "Blue Caprice," which should put first-time director Alexandre Moors on the map and win him some studio offers. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Blue Caprice, propelled by the rending, riveting performances of Washington and Richmond, hits hard. It means to shake you and does. Read more

David Lewis, San Francisco Chronicle: Despite the solid performances from Washington and Richmond, we get a little bored and begin waiting to see what will happen (or, more precisely, how the filmmakers will handle the ending) ... Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: I understand Moors' impulse to avoid both tidy moral explanations and sensationalistic gore, but we don't spend long enough with either victims or perpetrators to get a sense of what those terrible few weeks in Washington were like. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Spare yet deeply atmospheric, the film is charged with dreadful fatalism. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: It's the exploration of their human frailty and their brokenness, and the step-by-step examination of the events that would lead to this barbarity, that give Blue Caprice its intensity. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: It's not an easy sit. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: Blue Caprice is a chillingly plausible and responsibly handled attempt to dramatize the disturbing bond between the two men behind the 2002 Beltway sniper attacks. Read more

Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice: The tragedy, the fresh revelation of Blue Caprice is in seeing this boy with all such humanity stolen from him. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: "Blue Caprice" doesn't offer the sense of catharsis or closure, let alone new information, that makes it more than a cold, if disciplined, directorial exercise. Read more