With a few tweaks, there is a strong movie in here. I just wish that some of the writing didn’t feel as flat and that there was a strong demographic group for the film.

| Original Score: C | Jun 13, 2024

A heartwarming story that begins with the impact of the loss of a mother and finishes with an emotionally powerful, uplifting, magic(al) show that I’ll remember for quite a while.

| Original Score: A- | Jul 24, 2023

Is the film cute Sundance fare about a teenager breaking from family rules to chart her own course through performance? Sure. But didn’t one of those just win Best Picture?

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 11, 2022

As a coming-of-age exploration of healing and growth, the movie is funny and sad in equal measure. Even better, it is always engaging. And though there is plenty of sleight of hand, none of it is emotional. This is sincere stuff, and profoundly moving.

| May 7, 2022

The film succeeds as an endearing account of an unlikely friendship and a bond formed in the black hole of living with grief, all with a dry wit and a refreshingly darker edge than films of this ilk typically have.

| Apr 29, 2022

A film with an uneven tone that ultimately succeeds in part because of its leads’ chemistry.

| Apr 28, 2022

Tsang’s message is overt, but never heavy-handed, allowing both teens and adults to enjoy the slight of hand while we take home a few valuable lessons. With humor and heart, “Marvelous” is simply that, marvelous.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 28, 2022

Tsang’s perceptive first feature has a big heart but doesn’t cave to simplistic sentimentality. It delivers a welcome story about two emotionally wounded characters helping each other to learn to deal with grief.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 28, 2022

This story is too inconsistent and conventional to be a worthy entry in the coming-of-age genre.

| Apr 28, 2022

Marvelous and the Black Hole does not carve new pathways, but it satisfies the heart in an hour and 20 minutes.

| Apr 27, 2022

Kate Tseungs film takes on teen rage in an endearing, heartfelt, and amusing coming-of-age story that is simple, effective, and demands to be seen.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 23, 2022

While it veers too often into whimsy, the film is quietly perceptive in getting inside Sammys headspace with hard-earned compassion.

| Apr 23, 2022

Marvelous and the Black Hole is a film I can not recommend enough. It is as lighthearted as it is deep.

| Apr 23, 2022

Marvelous and the Black Hole heads mostly in the direction viewers would expect it to go... But that doesn’t stop it from being a gorgeous ride, peppered with delightful quirks that help elevate the movie.

| Apr 22, 2022

Kate Tsang's festival darling Marvelous and the Black Hole is a coming-of-age story that’s funny, charming, and full of unexpected heart.

| Apr 22, 2022

Marvelous and the Black Hole has enough warmth to overcome its practical limitations.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 22, 2022

While par for the course in terms of its premise as well as much of its plotting, “Marvelous and the Black Hole” is still somewhat refreshing in its visual style and experimentation.

| Apr 22, 2022

Tsang's film is short, smart, and, despite its honesty about the underlying despair of the main character, sweet.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 21, 2022

The film has a limited emotional range, jumping among several plot elements without fully fleshing them out.

| Apr 21, 2022

Structurally a very traditional tale about a misfit coming into their own, but that familiar story serves as a mannequin for Tsang to dress up with her own personal style and sensibility.

| Apr 20, 2022