70
Begins shakily, with a naked self-consciousness that can be off-putting, but quickly develops into an absorbing and ever deepening drama.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
80
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
Mr. Block has put his parents’ life, and his own, into this film with such warmth and candor that it may take more than one viewing to recognize it as a work of art.
80
Block has made a sad, delightful and half-accidental movie about his own parents.
80
A tonal triumph of true-life storytelling told with equal measures of tension and redemption.
75
New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman
The intimate history of Doug Block's parents becomes fodder for a broader look at family secrets in this complex documentary.
80
Open-minded, probing but never prurient, 51 Birch Street is much more than a portrait of suburban ennui. It's a loving, painful map of the gulf between thought and word, between word and deed, that props up good marriages, and sends bad ones to hell.
75
What's best about Block's documentary is how well he captures his own shifting perceptions.
91
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
A warm and honest portrait of a marriage at its most mysterious, and ordinary.
75
Chicago Tribune by Michael Phillips
The film has a compelling way about it. All five of the immediate Block family members emerge in full and affecting portraits.