Touching the Void

The New Yorker by Anthony Lane

Kevin Macdonald has a terrific tale on his hands, and his telling of it, very British in its matter-of-factness, can barely be faulted; yet the facts drop away, and it becomes impossible not to read the movie symbolically--as a journey to the center of the earth, or farther still.

The New York Times by Dave Kehr

This is compelling stuff, but there is something deeply distracting in the use of recreated material.

New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman

Simpson and Yates give a good idea why individuals are drawn to extreme sports.

Village Voice by Jessica Winter

Unexpectedly bridges genres -- it's a buddy movie, a horror story, a boy's-own adventure, and a near metaphysical meditation on the limits of human endurance.

Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum

The story itself is so powerful and troubling, the moral geometry so vertiginous, and the photography so big that anything other than the natural sounds of snowfall and footfall is a Flat Earth Society intrusion.

Washington Post by Michael O'Sullivan

Tells a tale of fortitude that comes not from muscle but from the ineffable, bungee-like sinew that is the human spirit.

The Hollywood Reporter by Michael Rechtshaffen

Factoring in Mike Eley's breathtakingly vivid photography and a virtuoso sound mix that completely envelops the viewer, it's enough to make you never again want to poke your head into the freezer.

The A.V. Club by Scott Tobias

At its heart, Touching The Void contends with the physical and spiritual dilemma of facing the unknown and overcoming paralyzing fear in order to emerge reborn on the other side. But the film's appeal is even more fundamental than that: It's just one of those stories that catches the breath, no matter how often it's told.

Variety by Todd McCarthy

Uses first-person on-camera accounts of the adventure by Simpson and fellow climber Simon Yates to backdrop newly shot you-are-there footage that brings home the awesome and harrowing aspects of their feat.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer by William Arnold

It's a gripping outdoor adventure and the movies' most inspiring epic survival story in years.