Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017) - Critic Reviews - Page 3 of 4

41-60 of 62 Reviews

Sort by:

Review of Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

By Kam Williams (1,272) for Baret News (418) on 24 May 2017

Don't be surprised if this chilling expose leaves you convinced the Sungs were innocent victims of a thoroughly corrupt legal system doling…

Read Review

Review of Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

By Arlin Golden (28) for Film Inquiry (1,269) on 20 May 2017

James offers compelling context and frames the case with a potent emotional plea embodied in the sincerity of his subjects…

Read Review

Review of Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

By Matt Zoller Seitz (637) for RogerEbert.com (5,563) on 18 May 2017

As gripping as the movie is as a legal thriller, it's even more notable as a portrait of a community…

Read Review

Review of Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

By Alessandra Codinha (3) for Vogue (149) on 18 May 2017

It is at its strongest when it is essentially an underdog story: a family drawing together to fight back against the sweeping power of the…

Read Review

Review of Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

By Frederic And Mary Ann Brussat (3,072) for Spirituality and Practice (3,072) on 17 May 2017

The little-known story of the trial of a Chinatown family-owned bank in the wake of the financial debacle of 2008…

Read Review

Review of Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

By Kristen Yoonsoo Kim (115) for Village Voice (8,525) on 17 May 2017

By focusing on the Sungs, [James] puts real, human faces to this corporation, leaving little doubt they’re the ones to root for…

Read Review

Review of Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

By Ben Kenigsberg (863) for The New York Times (9,847) on 17 May 2017

It’s a kind of stealth home movie: a portrait of two generations of an immigrant family in the United States…

Read Review

Review of Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

By Ignatiy Vishnevetsky (836) for The A.V. Club (5,644) on 17 May 2017

As for what all of this represents, Small Enough To Jail doesn’t draw any conclusions that its many interviewees aren’t willing to voice…

Read Review

Review of Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

By Mark Jenkins (515) for NPR (1,713) on 17 May 2017

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail is a compelling non-fiction thriller…

Read Review

Review of Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

By Louis Proyect (533) for Counterpunch.org (73) on 17 May 2017

The documentary hearkens back to Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life. I prefer the documentary…

Read Review

Review of Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

By Chuck Bowen (756) for Slant Magazine (8,298) on 16 May 2017

Steve James is clearly positioning the film as a rallying cry, and its weaknesses as art might bolster its strength as reformatory theater…

Read Review

Review of Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

By Michael Snydel (83) for The Film Stage (3,162) on 14 May 2017

James’ depiction of the trial is methodical, juxtaposing testimonies from the Sung family, employees, jurors, and lawyers – including Vance…

Read Review

Review of Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

By Kevin Jagernauth (311) for The Playlist (3,871) on 14 May 2017

While the film never reaches the kind of emotional peaks of James’ best work like “Hoop Dreams” or “The Interrupters,” Abacus: Small…

Read Review

Review of Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

By Stephen Dalton (194) for The Hollywood Reporter (7,050) on 14 May 2017

A minor but touchingly human subplot to the financial crash, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail is both an affirmation and an indictment of the American…

Read Review

Review of Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

By Ben Nicholson (124) for CineVue (2,163) on 14 May 2017

By focusing on the family, James makes Abacus about resilience and humility rather than the mechanics of litigation and in doing so underscores…

Read Review

Review of Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

By Sean Burns (1,156) for Spliced Personality (175) on 04 May 2017

James has always been a filmmaker fascinated by community, and Abacus doubles as an engrossing glimpse inside cloistered Chinatown customs…

Read Review

Review of Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

By Lauren Terry (23) for Willamette Week (516) on 08 Feb 2017

Detailing the bizarre chain of events is overwhelming at times, with too few court sketches to represent a rapid-fire cross-examination…

Read Review

Review of Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

By Norman Wilner (961) for NOW Toronto (1,621) on 13 Oct 2016

The legal machinations are less interesting than the Sung family's refusal to be scapegoated…

Read Review

Review of Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

By Owen Gleiberman (3,271) for Variety (12,700) on 05 Oct 2016

The movie is diligent and, to a degree, absorbing — a legal/business saga that’s also the story of a family in crisis…

Read Review

Review of Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

By Matthew Eng (14) for Little White Lies (3,136) on 05 Oct 2016

Not without its blind spots, but James locates both familial intimacy and a bigger picture without sentimentalising his subject…

Read Review

Page 3 of 4

More reviews of this movie:

Perhaps you were looking for:

Movies you might like:

Breakdown

1997

72%455 Reviews

No Good Deed

2002

42%32 Reviews

Armored

2009

53%564 Reviews

Killing Zoe

1993

72%225 Reviews

The Mask

1994

67%707 Reviews

American Madness

1932

74%19 Reviews

Banking on Bitcoin

2016

67%6 Reviews

It's a Wonderful Life

1946

87%740 Reviews

Inside Job

2010

84%764 Reviews

Popular Movies Right Now

Oppenheimer

2023

85%310 Reviews

Bullet Train

2022

66%170 Reviews

Avengers: Endgame

2019

86%432 Reviews

The Prodigy

2019

53%39 Reviews

Godzilla vs. Kong

2021

66%184 Reviews

Interstellar

2014

83%1,261 Reviews

No Time to Die

2021

74%254 Reviews

Gone Girl

2014

81%1,229 Reviews

Where the Crawdads Sing

2022

63%92 Reviews

Three Thousand Years of Longing

2022

65%84 Reviews

Movies You Viewed Recently

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail

2017

73%84 Reviews

Chuck

2017

65%106 Reviews

Matinee

1993

66%118 Reviews

Celeste & Jesse Forever

2012

64%586 Reviews

Runner Runner

2013

47%594 Reviews

Claire's Knee

1970

77%71 Reviews

Spring Breakers

2013

53%1,020 Reviews

Striptease

1996

43%405 Reviews

The Woman

2011

59%250 Reviews

Dan in Real Life

2007

66%769 Reviews