76
Metascore
8 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlVillage VoiceAlan ScherstuhlIt's always political when regular people speak plainly about their circumstances — here, it's also moving, revelatory, and often funny, offering plenty to mull over during the long shots of train workers trundling their food carts.
- 90The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottThe Iron Ministry is neither boring nor confining, which is just to say that it’s not a long trip through a faraway country. It’s a work of art — vivid and mysterious and full of life.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterNeil YoungThe Hollywood ReporterNeil YoungA pungently immersive evocation of traveling on Chinese trains.
- 80Time OutDavid EhrlichTime OutDavid EhrlichConfining its view to the narrow corridors of China’s train system—soon to be the largest of its kind in the world—The Iron Ministry vividly speaks to the country’s impossible vastness by focusing on its tiniest and most transient details, cobbling them together into a captivating mosaic of life in motion.
- 75Slant MagazineChristopher GraySlant MagazineChristopher GrayThough J.P. Sniadecki doesn't elucidate any broad structural motive, his film gradually adopts an engrossing rhythm among its clatter of steel and ambient chatter.
- 70VarietyJay WeissbergVarietyJay WeissbergWhile cerebral in intent and planning, the pic doesn’t feel overly straitjacketed by theory and offers unexpected moments of amusement.
- 40Los Angeles TimesMartin TsaiLos Angeles TimesMartin TsaiFilmmaker J.P. Sniadecki withholds judgment and resists editorializing, but the result is frustratingly nebulous and devoid of context.