63
Bridgend does have a life on its own beyond fact, but the narrative it offers in place of the headlines only further proves how phenomena like adolescence and death is better observed, not investigated.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
67
Entertainment Weekly by Chris Nashawaty
Based on a real-life rash of teen suicides in Wales, Danish director Jeppe Rønde’s 2015 Tribeca winner feels like the sort of slow BBC America procedural you’d quickly give up on.
60
Screen International by Fionnuala Halligan
Ronde, who clearly identifies with the teenage perspective, has delivered some gorgeous sequences, nonetheless. Formerly a documentarian, his debut could be seen as a delicious experiment, tantalising audiences as to what he might do next. Or it could be dubbed chaotic and indulgent, an awkward misfire.
70
Even when the director pushes too far...the film’s formal severity feels appropriately claustrophobic — another form of authority closing in on the light.
67
The Film Stage by Jared Mobarak
There’s a lot that I like about what Rønde has done here to create a mood piece that chills your bones as it crescendos into abstraction.
60
The New York Times by Ken Jaworowski
Everything’s in service of the images in Bridgend, a stylishly shot, eerily scored and moodily acted film that wants for nothing but a plot. Depending on how you like your movies, this is either a walkout or a must-see.
20
The Hollywood Reporter by Neil Young
A textbook example of how not to turn real-life headlines into big-screen drama, Jeppe Ronde's Bridgend is a toxic combination of the laughable and the reprehensible.
38
Slant Magazine by Nick McCarthy
The film, with its dark-blue-hued cinematography and murky music, is all foreboding atmosphere.
83
A sinister dread pulses through Bridgend, one that is engrossing and terrifying.