73
Metascore
19 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83The Film StageZhuo-Ning SuThe Film StageZhuo-Ning SuIt’s true that none of this is particularly groundbreaking and that, as hinted above, the limitations of a biographical film are still palpable towards the end, but the pure, visceral satisfaction of seeing an exciting story expertly told cannot be denied either.
- 80The TelegraphRobbie CollinThe TelegraphRobbie CollinEffortless tracking shots, spasms of sickening violence and a perfectly pitched jukebox soundtrack are all conspicuously and stylishly deployed, sometimes all at once.
- 80VarietyPeter DebrugeVarietyPeter DebrugeArgentine powerhouse Pablo Trapero (“Carancho,” “White Elephant”) takes a case so upsetting many refused to believe it was possible and retells it in ghastly detail from the p.o.v. of the perpetrators in The Clan, a muscular, Hollywood-style account of the Puccio fiasco.
- 75The PlaylistJessica KiangThe PlaylistJessica KiangIt's Arquimedes who emerges as the film's most indelible character, aided by Francella's fabulously icy performance. Lacking even the warmth of a Don Vito, Arquimedes comes across not as a man who does everything for his family, but as a man who expects his family to do everything, even damn themselves, for him and his twisted, heartless, self-centered worldview.
- 75Miami HeraldRene RodriguezMiami HeraldRene RodriguezThe strained, strange relationship between father and son ultimately becomes the emotional center of The Clan, culminating with an astonishing closing shot guaranteed to induce startled gasps. It’s a great, jarring moment that is the work of a filmmaker clearly in love with his craft — and a flavor for the darker side of human nature.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijThe Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijThere are no false notes in the ensemble but Francella, with dyed grey eyebrows, and Lanzini, saddled with black sideburns the size of dead mice, are clearly best in show. And the film finally gives audiences the long-awaited confrontation between the two in a strong sequence toward the end.
- 70Village VoiceVillage VoiceBilled as a thriller, The Clan doesn't quite thrill but instead instills a slow-building dread of the inevitable.
- 63New York PostFarran Smith NehmeNew York PostFarran Smith NehmeSwift, confident, and exceptionally nasty, this Argentine film bears roughly the same relationship to the Martin Scorsese of “Goodfellas” that Brian De Palma does to, well, all of Hitchcock.
- 60CineVueJohn BleasdaleCineVueJohn BleasdaleThere is something of Scorsese to this rise and fall of a criminal family and Trapero crams The Clan with life.
- 50Slant MagazineSlant MagazineThe Pablo Trapero film's parallels are drawn so bluntly that they lose all suggestive force, since there's little left to suggest.