Grounded by strong performances from Abbott, Bernthal and Imogen Poots, the film is a deftly made drama with intellect, suspense and more heart than you might expect.

| Dec 5, 2023

Takes place against a backdrop of duplicity and dread as Dagg maintains an air of menace that keeps things interesting.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 3, 2021

There's an air of menace, but little suspense. In the end, this slow-burn thriller sparks but never truly catches fire.

| Original Score: B- | Jul 1, 2020

Sweet Virginia is an indie thriller that succeeds in telling a Coen brothers-esque story that is ultimately made memorable by its terrific cast.

| Oct 24, 2019

Jamie M. Dagg is very respectful with the characters, he seems to want us to understand them and put ourselves in their place, even if they are criminals. [Full Review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 11, 2019

Sluggish mood-piece neo-noir indie set in a small town in Alaska.

| Original Score: C+ | Feb 19, 2019

A dark and relentless thriller, with every character frayed by the realities of life and relationships.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Nov 14, 2018

A deliberately paced thriller that quickens the pulse.

| Oct 22, 2018

Despite its flaws, Sweet Virginia is a suspense-filled, tension-built thriller with a palpable sense of dread and gloom felt throughout that adds to the strong performances, as well as the drama.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Jan 17, 2018

If you're looking for pitch-dark tales packed with wickedness, cruelty, and crime, this one can make your day.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Dec 19, 2017

Jamie M. Dagg uses spare, purposeful direction to put the usual thriller elements, such as a killer for hire, a stash of money, and a hesitant femme fatale, to one side for a vision of lonely people despairing for an intimate connection.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 14, 2017

[Sweet Virginia] is a high-quality physical and psychological thriller.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 8, 2017

The young cast and crew fall short of a hard-hitting tale of heartbreak and violence.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Dec 7, 2017

Sweet Virginia would clearly like to stake out some territory on the dark dramatic edges of the cinematic map, but ends up a little lost.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 1, 2017

A lot to take in - too much, really.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 1, 2017

Sweet Virginia manages to skirt all manner of clichd setups and crime-thriller illogic to arrive at a climax that still meets the lurid bang-bang requirements of the genre, but also plants its slugs a little deeper than most.

| Dec 1, 2017

Director Dagg and sibling screenwriters Benjamin and Paul China ratchet up the tension. So does the eerie score by another set of siblings, Will and Brooke Blair, who previously teamed for the horror thriller Green Room.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 30, 2017

The film's key strength is in Jessica Lee Gagne's cinematography, a very stylish pallet of greys and blacks.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Nov 30, 2017

Dagg just lets it all breathe, building tension as people kill time in diners and motel rooms, hinting that something terrible is coming but not telling us how or when. That's exactly what this material needs.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 30, 2017

What happens when men of few words are the lead characters in a thriller? In Sweet Virginia, some great actors are left high and dry by a script that doesn't mesh.

| Nov 30, 2017