Emotional Arithmetic - Critique

Critique

Reviewing the TIFF début of the film, Rocchi writes:

Emotional Arithmetic plays out in a series of fairly predictable scenes — resentments simmer, past pain comes to light, rapprochements are formed. Emotional Arithmetic tries to paint a picture of the long-term emotional effects of political atrocities, which is certainly an important topic. But, again, it feels like a film that was made to be about an important topic — it's a little too obvious, a little too on-the-nose, a little familiar. Emotional Arithmetic has the best of intentions; it's just that its whole is far less than the sum of the parts.

In contrast, Foundas is kinder to the film, observing that it is:

less a straight matter of addition or subtraction than it is a complex algebra equation, with multiple variables that all have a bearing on the sum. It is also, much like the film that opened Toronto this year, Jeremy Podeswa's "Fugitive Pieces," another visually lush, dramatically obvious story of Holocaust survivors still wrestling with the ghosts of their past, several decades on from the end of WWII. Generally solid performances and Barzman's sensitive handling help to elevate the pic above the realm of the familiar and could result in okay arthouse biz among auds not yet exhausted by the subject matter.

Yet, echoing Marchand's title (""Munch Ado about Nothing: 'Emotional Arithmetic': Dreary by the Numbers"), in a review after the film's release, Braun observes: "How people deal with the aftermath of tragedy is a fascinating subject, but the feelings involved are never conveyed in this film. Emotional Arithmetic is all about the math, not the emotion; it's all brain and no heart as far as the filmmaking goes."