65
Metascore
6 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- With his debut feature Dim the Fluorescents, Toronto filmmaker Daniel Warth has created an astonishing calling card – an earnest and entertaining celebration of process and performance, not to mention a tremendous showcase for two homegrown actors on the cusp of greatness.
- 75The Film StageThe Film StageCompared to the rigidity and self-imposed formal restrictions that can plague a lot of indie titles, watching Dim the Fluorescents unexpectedly bifurcate its narrative or collapse its characters’ own drama into their mini-plays with such assuredness is legitimately exciting.
- 75The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyThe A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyFluorescents’ showy camera moves and full-jazz-hands theater-kid dorkiness are a tonic against the excessively muted naturalism that has come to define indie style.
- 70Village VoiceTatiana CraineVillage VoiceTatiana CraineThe film’s examination of the artistic grind is promising, but Dim the Fluorescents clocks in at over two hours, proving tiresome at times. Luckily, Skwarna and Armstrong’s quirky chemistry keeps the lights on in this overlong debut.
- 60Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshLos Angeles TimesKatie WalshThe smart premise is muddled with far too many tangents — bumbling romances, rivalries with old classmates, troubled cats, precocious teens, angry dance sequences. When focusing on the central relationship, the film is at its best.
- 50The New York TimesMonica CastilloThe New York TimesMonica CastilloMr. Warth, who wrote the screenplay with Miles Barstead, creates a flawed tale of female friendship and the artist’s everlasting struggle. Unfortunately, Dim the Fluorescents can’t keep its story together.