The film keeps you on your toes as to where it is headed, breaking all the conventional cliché plotlines. And it's Swinton's finest hour since Deep End, as a conflicted, less than perfect small time crook finding her way.

| Mar 24, 2021

Starring Tilda Swinton in the title role, Zonka's film is essentially a pointless exercise in extreme behavior.

| Aug 18, 2020

Risky, genuine, and alive.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 14, 2016

Complications pile up, confrontations are manufactured, and numerous Mexican baddies materialize as the runtime needlessly heads past the two-hour mark.

| Oct 20, 2014

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 24, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 18, 2011

Swinton approaches Julia with an all-or-nothing attitude, creating an ungodly eccentric character and evoking an impressive array of audience emotions.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 14, 2010

Tilda Swinton's strong central performance saves an otherwise routine drug drama.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 20, 2010

It's simply impossible to imagine Eric Zonca's Julia, a noirish thriller and sharp character study inspired by Cassavetes' Gloria, without Tilda Swinton, who dominates the film from start to finish.

| Original Score: B+ | Dec 10, 2009

One should hope Tilda Swinton has a good dental plan - it will come in handy when the time comes to pry out the scenery she aggressively chomps.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Dec 8, 2009

In Erick Zonca's tense and juicy noir, Tilda Swinton plays the title role with a crusty panache matched only by her matted, flaming-red thatch of hair (a character in its own right).

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 3, 2009

If you're feeling adventurous, seek it out. Swinton's masterful performance as the flailing, desperate L.A. alcoholic Julia will more than reward your time.

| Oct 15, 2009

Tilda Swinton is electrifying in this riveting, knock-your-socks-off crime thriller that is just about as intense as movies get.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 8, 2009

Charles Bukowski would have loved this foul-mouthed, fiery, reckless woman. Against all odds and common sense, you will, too.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 27, 2009

The plot is over-the-top, but Swinton makes you stay with the film long after the writer/director loses credibility.

| Original Score: B- | Aug 18, 2009

I salute the film's bravery for rushing off at full force on its own stream-of-consciousness logic, but for me, I found the final stages perhaps a tad too far-fetched.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Aug 11, 2009

I recommend going to see it, but don't blame me when you feel like you've downed a fifth of vodka afterwards.

| Jul 11, 2009

In a sense, it goes to all the places a sensitive character study might have gone, but more dramatically, convincingly and vividly.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 10, 2009

A nerve-wracking thriller with a twisty plot and startling realism.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jul 3, 2009

Swinton is mesmerising as a messed-up drunk.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 2, 2009