A portrait of a president as a young man.

| Aug 19, 2019

The Better Angels makes for a sublime, transfixing, and informative look at the early life of Abraham Lincoln.

| Original Score: A- | Jun 21, 2016

Visually, Angels is a true work of art. Each and every frame of Matthew J. Lloyd's black-and-white cinematography is suitable for framing.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 22, 2016

Kudos to this young director for making quite a good film -- even if the guiding hand of Malick is present in every shot.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 4, 2015

A dreamlike reverie as well as a uniquely American origin story...

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 31, 2015

Contemplative but pretentious drama about Lincoln's boyhood.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 5, 2015

... frustrating and emotionally aloof, with a whirling camera and glacial pace that offer more tedium than insight.

| Dec 31, 2014

This biopic about the very young Abraham Lincoln is cinema as visual poetry.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 27, 2014

A well-researched film with an intriguing premise, Better Angels is gorgeous, but not enlightening or affecting.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 24, 2014

It's a beautiful picture, even when it's frustratingly inert and incapable of connecting with its audience.

| Original Score: B | Nov 21, 2014

It feels more like a poem. Or, at times, a symphony. But it's much less effective as an actual movie.

| Original Score: C- | Nov 21, 2014

"God tells truths in parables," someone says - a line that Edwards most likely aspires to take possession of, as if his poetic, pictorial parable had its own truths to tell.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 21, 2014

Intellectually challenging black-and-white film about Abraham Lincoln as a young boy. For those of you still reading after that sentence, yes, there's a great deal to appreciate about "The Better Angels," not the least of which is the lack of color.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 20, 2014

A gorgeous look at the raw, wooded Indiana of the early 1800s and a dreamy study of the boy Lincoln who was destined to leave it behind.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 14, 2014

The effect becomes repetitive, and that ultimately emphasizes the rather slight nature of the story here.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 14, 2014

History, as subject matter, is hard enough to sell as cinema. The Better Angels will not make the struggle any easier.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Nov 13, 2014

Had Terrence Malick taken a shot at making a Ken Burns movie, it would probably have turned out better than "The Better Angels," A.J. Edwards's humorless, pretentious black-and-white tone poem about a very young Abe Lincoln.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 13, 2014

Narrators tell us what to feel, but there's something hollow at the center. The tone of the picture seems perversely oblique.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 13, 2014

Just as those around Lincoln grow frustrated by his obscurity, so may audiences watching "The Better Angels."

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 13, 2014

Like a student film by someone who's never seen a movie by anyone other than Terrence Malick.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Nov 13, 2014