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Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: The particular and universal aspects of myth converge in an often humorous drama that illuminates the indigenous Yolngu people yet also echoes creation stories from other cultures. Read more
John Hartl, Seattle Times: Parts of that narrative are surprisingly frank and irreverent. Read more
Noel Murray, AV Club: Flows like water, and has a deceptively gentle pull that proves hard to escape. Read more
Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic: Gulpilil is the canny, subtle and funny narrator of 10 Canoes, a film of unutterable beauty, hypnotic fascination and universal humanity. Read more
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: It taunts us with resolution and mysteries, then slaps our hand for reaching out for a conclusion. That's a natural expectation that the filmmakers are happy to subvert. Read more
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: Audacious and impressive, but challenging work, requiring steadfast concentration. Read more
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: The movie -- the first entirely in Australian Aboriginal languages -- is a marvel of warm collaboration and shared jokes about husbands and wives, shot both in dreamscape color and pristine black and white. Read more
Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: Ten Canoes is a celebration of the art of storytelling, and of the power of stories to transcend all barriers of space, time and language. This is a movie with sheer magic in it. Read more
John Anderson, Newsday: It's common enough to describe a film as being like no other you've ever seen but in this case it may literally be true. Read more
Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: You've never seen anything like it. Read more
V.A. Musetto, New York Post: Jokes about flatulence, human excrement and the size of someone's manhood also come into play, but they never cheapen this lush and enjoyable film. Read more
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: A fascinating immersion within a highly ritualized Stone Age oral culture that, at least according to tradition, existed almost unchanged for thousands of years before the European arrival. Read more
Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: Australian writer-director Rolf de Heer is an extremely visual filmmaker, and his images stay with you. Ten Canoes' authenticity is guaranteed by a close collaboration with the Aboriginal community. Read more
Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times: Australian director Rolf de Heer deftly mingles two styles of storytelling: cinema and aboriginal oral customs. Read more
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: A rollicking good story set a millennium ago among Australian aborigines, Ten Canoes is one of those cultural-building exercises that genuinely entertains. Read more
Susan Walker, Toronto Star: It's not every director with a camera and curiosity about his fellow man who'd try a stunt like this. And it's not every viewer who'll be content just to watch and listen as the story slowly unfolds. Read more
David Fear, Time Out: De Heer's indigenous action-comedy relies on its own puckishness a few times too many, but its tribute to the power of a well-spun yarn couldn't be more effective. Read more
Richard Kuipers, Variety: The first feature in an Australian Aboriginal language feels authentic to the core as it tells a cautionary tale set 1,000 years ago. Read more
Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Sometimes all it takes to bridge the chasm of eons is a little humor. Read more