77
Metascore
16 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 89Austin ChronicleMarrit IngmanAustin ChronicleMarrit IngmanHonest and unflinching, Daughter From Danang isn't always pleasant to watch, but it is powerful and memorable.
- 88Boston GlobeWesley MorrisBoston GlobeWesley MorrisThat commendable sense of balance, which Dolgin and Franco use to approach this family reunion, ultimately makes the finished product devastating.
- 80VarietyJoe LeydonVarietyJoe LeydonAn intelligent, well-observed and ineffably poignant study of an Amerasian woman's attempt to trace her roots by journeying back to Vietnam.
- Devastating in part because it's so chillingly familiar.
- 80L.A. WeeklyErnest HardyL.A. WeeklyErnest HardyThe film's almost unbearable portrait of sadness and grief transcends its specific story to speak to the ways in which need, history and presumption tangle, and sometimes destroy, blood ties.
- 75New York Daily NewsJami BernardNew York Daily NewsJami BernardThe startling documentary Daughter From Danang cautions once again to be careful what you wish for.
- 70Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanOperation Babylift itself was an attempt to provide some semblance of an American happy ending to the Vietnam debacle. But as Daughter From Danang demonstrates, the war's scars may take another generation to heal.
- 63New York PostJonathan ForemanNew York PostJonathan ForemanThe filmmakers' smug Bay Area bigotry is all too obvious in gratuitous, mocking swipes at Heidi's Southern background.
- 60New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter RainerNew York Magazine (Vulture)Peter RainerThis may sound like an Oprah episode, but the outcome is far from predictable and carries the force of a tragedy in which everyone, and no one, is to blame.
- 60The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottMay not be a great piece of filmmaking, but its power comes from its soul's-eye view of how well-meaning patronizing masked a social injustice, at least as represented by this case.