Director Chad Hartigan's hopeful approach to the material, combined with the terrific cast and cinematography, come together to make this one of 2013's quiet triumphs.

| Jun 22, 2019

As a whole, This is Martin Bonner is a subtle piece of art getting at the heart of the human condition.

| Original Score: B+ | Jun 28, 2016

Inspiring in a way that movies too often aren't, in that it provides a realistic yet optimistic vision of how someone can positively affect the world around them

| Original Score: A | Feb 5, 2014

Thankfully it avoids the sentimentality of so many other similar redemption indie pics.

| Original Score: B | Oct 17, 2013

A lovely film makes use of fundamental Christian belief, and of lonely men in their autumn years, and of second chances forced upon us, subjects not generally celebrated in Hollywood.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 13, 2013

... exquisite character development, observant filmmaking, and storytelling that just might change the way people live.

| Original Score: A | Oct 2, 2013

Chad Hartigan's This is Martin Bonner is a refreshing example of stark realism, minus the grit and melodrama that tends to muddy films of its ilk.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 29, 2013

This Is Martin Bonner takes a magnifying glass to everyday goodness and lingering pain, illuminating their contours and complexities but pulling away before the movie can ever burst into sentimental flame.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 16, 2013

This contemplative drama draws strength from day-to-day ordinariness and a terrific lead performance from Paul Eenhoorn, yet sadly falls short.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 15, 2013

Mr. Eenhoorn (whose patient expressions here suggest a kindly priest) gives his character the shy charm of palpable decency.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 13, 2013

Patience is privileged, nothing is forced, and by the end of this quietly devastating character study, the ordinary has become extraordinary.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 13, 2013

By calling on his leads to underplay nearly every moment, Hartigan calls into question our deeply ingrained instinct, as moviegoers, to witness a steady parade of amped-up emotions.

| Aug 13, 2013

Somewhere far beyond the hoary parables of most faith-based films and the brutal body-blows of prison flicks soars This Is Martin Bonner, an understated drama with small words and big ideas.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 13, 2013

At its best, with its quiet, ominous pace in the early going and its economical distribution of information throughout, the film is reminiscent of Todd Haynes's Safe.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 12, 2013

The detail is precise, as are the performances. These may not be people you would care to see a film about, but seeing it I can't imagine that you wouldn't be moved to care about them.

| Aug 1, 2013

Rigorously subdued in performance and tone, this low-key character portrait is distinguished by its empathetic honesty.

| Jul 31, 2013

This Is Martin Bonner explores what it means to be a good person at a crossroads, and whom you might find there.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 31, 2013

The rare contemporary film about Christian behavior that doesn't go out of its way to announce its secularity, it's equally unpatronizing in its sharp articulation of loneliness in middle age and beyond.

| Original Score: B+ | Jul 31, 2013

Written and directed by Chad Hartigan, this touching, uncommonly humane drama centers on the tenuous friendship between two lonely older men.

| Jul 19, 2013

The writer and director, Chad Hartigan, transforms the potentially maudlin premise into a luminous reach for grace.

| Jul 1, 2013