 The New York Times reviewer Nathan Lee described The Man from London as " bloated , formalist art " , and an " outrageously stylized , conceptually demanding film " that dehumanizes and alienates its audience . In The Hollywood Reporter , Kirk Honeycutt complimented the intricacy of the cinematography and the monochrome photography , but judged the film to be " tedious " , " repetitive " and " nearly unwatchable " . In a review of Cannes ' offerings for Time Out , Dave Calhoun too drew attention to the meticulous cinematography and signature shot length 's of Tarr 's " austere and mesmeric " film , and declared Swinton 's dubbing into Hungarian one of the festival 's strangest instances of cultural displacement . Reporting from Cannes , The Guardian 's Peter Bradshaw described the film as " bizarre and lugubrious , but mesmeric " , and praised the muted performance of Agi Szirtes in the role of Brown 's wife as " strangely compelling " . Reviewing the film following its theatrical release , he found the dubbed dialogue affected and odd , the score doom @-@ laden , the occasional humour mordant , and the cinematography mesmerising , remarking that net effect was " unsettling , sometimes absurd , sometimes stunning " . Ed Gonzales of The Village Voice concluded that the film " stands as an example of style for the sake of pure and intense but dispassionate style " . 
