Writes Kobland, "Foto-Roman is a layering of voyeuristic atmospheres; a Borgesian enigma of 'Who dreams and who is dreamt.' A prologue to a possible 'thriller,' or maybe its synopsis." Amy Taubin, writing in The Village Voice, states, "Foto-Roman [is] as close as moving pictures have ever come to evoking the associative, fragmented and inchoate stream of consciousness."