Le meraviglie 2014

Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post: [It] takes a long while to pick up steam, but its tactile feel for the dirt and labor of a farm, and tender regard for the young protagonist, are immensely endearing. Read more

Jay Weissberg, Variety: Aiming to capture a young teen's sense of belonging in a family determined to steer its own course, the pic has intermittent rewards yet isn't weighty enough. Read more

Mike D'Angelo, AV Club: A charmingly naturalistic slice of life ... Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: "The Wonders" is one of those films that's easier to experience than explain, which is almost always a good thing. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: "The Wonders" evokes many other films, but is utterly unique. It is like being privy to a marvelous story that Rohrwacher is telling herself. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: A prize winner at the Cannes film festival, this naturalistic Italian drama presents a warm and credible portrait of a modern beekeeping family in the Tuscan countryside. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: It offers a slice of family life - tumultuous, conflicted, yet bound by circumstance and history - that is thoroughly unique and awfully colorful. Read more

Deborah Young, Hollywood Reporter: Wise beyond its years, like the teenage protag Gelsomina, Le Meraviglie (The Wonders) is a wistful but no-tears swan song recounting the disappearance of traditional rural lifestyle in Italy. Read more

Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: A story that frames a familiar conflict - the collision of modernity and tradition - in intriguingly off-center ways, alive with piercing detail. Read more

Ella Taylor, NPR: Rohrwacher handles her material with a richly detailed naturalism and a keen eye for the risks posed by Wolfgang's Promethean grandstanding to his children. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Ms. Rohrwacher's strengths here are the tender intimacy of the performances, particularly those of the older child actors, and her gentle meandering, both narrative and cinematographic. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Terrence Malick comes to mind, too, in Rohrwacher's approach to storytelling - but without the American's sense of the symphonic and supernal. Read more

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: It provides an incomplete portrait of lives strained by the urgency of keeping up with a honey-maker's schedule. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: An exceptional tale of family dynamics and a fading way of life, grounded with a sense of physicality and the primacy of nature that eventually takes on spiritual overtones. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: This may be the best nonprescription sleep aid on the market. Read more

Michael Atkinson, Globe and Mail: The social commentary is subtle but touches on disappearing craft production and the rise of consumerism, and the modern world's increasingly tenuous connection to the land ... Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: Italian writer-director Alice Rohrwacher captures a conflicted 12-year-old girl's summer straddling childhood and maturity in The Wonders. Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: A personal, intimate film riffing on the wonderful strangeness of families - equally capable of love and destructiveness, happiness and despair, often all at the same time Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: The Wonders has an intimate, subtly buzzing power. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Structurally, "The Wonders" suffers from awkward bulges and sags, especially toward the end. Still, it's a beautiful, richly imagined ride that doesn't end as much as evaporate into a dreamlike puff of smoke. Read more