68
Metascore
18 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungThe Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungThough different in feeling from the Japanese writer-director's perceptive family tales like After the Storm, it has the same clarity of thought and precision of image as his very best work.
- 80The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawThe Third Murder is a captivating puzzle.
- 80Screen DailyDan FainaruScreen DailyDan FainaruKore-Eda, writer, director and editor, an auteur in the full sense of the word, tunes his approach to the genre, but only up to a certain point.
- 75Slant MagazineChuck BowenSlant MagazineChuck BowenIn The Third Murder, as in his other films, Hirokazu Kore-eda informs tragedy with a distinctive kind of qualified humor that's realistic of how people process atrocity.
- 70Paste MagazineAndrew CrumpPaste MagazineAndrew CrumpThe Third Murder may not be Kore-eda’s best work, but the film proves a satisfying challenge, a complex exploration of sin and righteousness in an amoral world.
- 65Film Journal InternationalDaniel EaganFilm Journal InternationalDaniel EaganTechnically splendid but emotionally distant, The Third Murder will seem more like a detour than a destination for his fans.
- 60CineVueJohn BleasdaleCineVueJohn BleasdaleKore-eda has unquestionably added a new, intriguing angle to his meditation on family life in contemporary Japan.
- 58IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichA harsh and largely unwelcome change of pace from Japan’s greatest living humanist filmmaker, The Third Murder finds Hirokazu Kore-eda abandoning the warmth of his recent family dramas (“Still Walking,” “After the Storm”) in favor of an ice-cold legal thriller that pedagogically dismantles the death penalty.
- 50VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyCompelling enough while you’re watching it, frustrating then forgettable once it ends, this is a work that wouldn’t command much attention if it came from any other director. Coming from this one, it mostly intrigues as an unexpected if not terribly rewarding change of pace.
- 50The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThe A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThe film’s fourth murder involves the slow asphyxiation of the viewer’s patience.