79
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The Irish TimesTara BradyThe Irish TimesTara BradyThe stoical, quiet, affecting beast of burden in Li Ruijun’s much-admired drama is emblematic of the film’s larger appeal.
- 80The New York TimesAustin ConsidineThe New York TimesAustin ConsidineChina’s leadership has a history of suppressing art that spotlights the failings of its ruling class and ideology, which is exactly what Li’s film does, with a script that feels only occasionally overwritten. That he succeeds without making it feel like homework — which is to say beautifully, humanely — is presumably what made the film so threatening.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThis is an elegiac story, a humanistic metaphor for a vanishing world seen through the prism of a vulnerable couple cruelly written off by their families as worthless encumbrances.
- 80Screen DailyJohn BerraScreen DailyJohn BerraIt packs a quiet emotional punch.
- 80VarietyJessica KiangVarietyJessica KiangA later-life love story of the gentlest kind, Li Ruijun’s Return to Dust is an absorbing, beautifully framed drama that makes a virtue — possibly too much a virtue — of simplicity.
- 75Slant MagazineSlant MagazineThe film is best in moments when the bond between two outcasts is made corporeal and fully present.
- 75RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyRogerEbert.comGlenn KennyReturn to Dust abounds in small poetic touches from the director and his lead characters.
- 70Little White LiesDavid JenkinsLittle White LiesDavid JenkinsDespite these subtle barbs, Return to Dust ends up as an elegiac love story as the unlikely couple form a bond built on a foundation of total understanding and empathy.