• It’s a bit of a disappointment with the 92 on metacritic
  • It’s first and foremost a docudrama or entrée in the long proud history of neo-realism—it’s almost so real (real actors playing themselves like Close-Up or Eastwoodi’s latest 15:17 To Paris that it suffers from bad acting (because they are not actors)- Brady Jandreau is great though in the lead
  • Chloe Zhao’s sophomore effort- born in Beijing and this story is authentically rural America- South Dakota and that location is a character in the film- sharp photography on location in the reservations of the Badlands
  • Modest
  • Lyrical shots—some good magic hour photography (Malick’s Days of Heaven)
  • Tragic—series of gut-punches
  • By the end you are move- very affecting
  • Comparable to Maria Full of Grace without the intensity—ditto The Hurt Locker without some of the action set pieces (nowhere near as strong as that film
  • Recommend/Highly Recommend border