Rotten
It's jolting that such a potentially life-affirming movie could be so lifeless.
Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News
Jakob the Liar
When all hope was lost, he invented it.
1999 · 2h · PG-13
Comedy, Drama, History
Directed by
Peter Kassovitz
Overview
In 1944 Poland, a Jewish shop keeper named Jakob is summoned to ghetto headquarters after being caught out after curfew. While waiting for the German Kommondant, Jakob overhears a German radio broadcast about Russian troop movements. Returned to the ghetto, the shopkeeper shares his information with a friend and then rumors fly that there is a secret radio within the ghetto.
Director and cast
- Peter Kassovitz Director
- Robin Williams as Jakob Heym
- Armin Mueller-Stahl as Prof. Dr. Kirschbaum
- Hannah Taylor-Gordon as Lina Kronstein
- Éva Igó as Lina`s Mutter
- István Bálint as Linas`s Vater
- Justus von Dohnányi as Preuss
- Kathleen Gati as Hocker
- Bob Balaban as Kowalsky
- Alan Arkin as Max Frenkfurter
- Michael Jeter Cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
29%
Tomatometer
Fresh
Robin Williams in his best film since Good Will Hunting!
David Hunter, Hollywood Reporter
Rotten
I never lost awareness that I was watching actors speaking lines, not real people.
Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune
Rotten
The film leans from the comedic to the near-mawkish.
Jeff Millar, Houston Chronicle
Fresh
A markedly better picture than Roberto Benigni's far more sentimental Oscar collector.
Todd McCarthy, Variety
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Drama · War · R
The true story of pianist Władysław Szpilman's experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work playing in a café; and when his family is deported in 1942, he stays behind, works for a while as a laborer, and eventually goes into hiding in the ruins of...
- Runtime
- 2h 30m
- Director
- Roman Polanski
- Cast
- Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay
IMDb
8.5
Rotten Tomatoes
95%
Metacritic
85
Comments
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