Presents a fairy-tale Eastern Europe glimpsed from far off through the telescope of melancholy nostalgia.

| May 4, 2010

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 11, 2005

A little too proud of its own eccentricities, often at the expense of the story.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 27, 2004

Think of it as: "Fiddler on the Roof" as soap opera.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 7, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Jan 27, 2002

The villain sneers, and someone in the film- score department is banging a timpani in slow motion, meaning there's probably tragedy around the corner, but things are too earnest and sleepy to be sure.

| Jul 24, 2001

Full of magic and fantasy with an interesting mix of eccentric and complex characters.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 24, 2001

The final montage sequence is exquisite, marking the emergence of an unusual and brilliant visual stylist.

| Jul 24, 2001

A striking feature debut with a creditable stab at magical realism.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 24, 2001

An odd but original, at times even poetic, film about a vanished world.

Full Review | Jul 6, 2001

A wonderfully intense emotional experience.

Full Review | Jun 21, 2001

A muddled work, neither truly scary nor compelling.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 1, 2001

Beautifully shot and lyrically told, Simon Magus is a beguiling study in contrasts, good and evil, darkness and light, hope and despair, joy and melancholy.

Full Review | Jun 1, 2001

Can't decide if it wants to be a fairy tale, a parable, or magical realism.

| Jun 1, 2001

Beautifully realized and lovingly photographed.

| Original Score: B- | May 11, 2001

The more I think about Simon Magus, the less I'm sure what it's trying to say.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 27, 2001

Hopkins shows masterful skill in shaping Simon's reality and unreality in this engrossing, suspenseful morality play.

Full Review | Apr 26, 2001

Reasonably diverting, but the story never matches the movie's fantastic visual imagination.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 30, 2001

Looks and feels like a play (a bad one) written by a dim but earnest student.

Full Review | Mar 30, 2001

A lyrical tribute to the mysteriousness of life and death.

| Mar 30, 2001