Michael 2011

Stephen Holden, New York Times: This coldly compelling film doesn't try to explain Michael's behavior or analyze his disease. As if doing penance for Michael's sins, it eventually metes out unequivocal punishment, but it is small consolation. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Michael is a clear-eyed depiction of the unthinkable, a view of inhumanity with zero psychologizing. Read more

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: A strange and agonizingly engrossing drama despite its repellent subject. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: It's a chilling film about the routine business of unspeakable acts. Read more

Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times: A hermetically sealed creep-fest that seems to have no desire to be anything more than just that. Read more

Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic: Another full unfaltering performance by a child. This time it's in a horror film. Read more

Mark Jenkins, NPR: Like its protagonist, Michael is deliberate and very discreet. It shocks by suggestion, not by display. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: A well-acted, otherwise tightly scripted movie that builds suspense with a series of unexpected twists and turns. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Dreadful as the subject matter is, the authenticity of the performances and the skill of Schleinzer's filmmaking are difficult to deny in this portrait of a monster as the bland guy next door. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: What interests Schleinzer is putting us inside Michael's head, even though we're repelled by his activities, and his no-frills approach works. Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: There are no easy conclusions here - no explanations. Events unfold with a random, even black comic abandon. Read more

Alissa Simon, Variety: Illustrating the banality of evil in an impressively controlled and sometimes darkly humorous fashion, Michael takes a coolly nonjudgmental, non-psychological approach to a disturbing topic. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: Schleinzer approaches his subject not as an investigator, but as though covering up a crime scene and scrubbing it of anything that might provide insight or empathy or psychological traction. Read more