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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

64
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69
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68
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54
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76
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51
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77
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56
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32
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53
RocknRolla
57
Sixty Six
85
Slumdog Millionaire
57
Special
79
Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
67
Synecdoche, New York
82
Tell No One
83
Trouble the Water
43
Tru Loved
83
U2 3D
59
We Are Wizards
55
What Just Happened?
89
Man on Wire
85
Slumdog Millionaire
84
Momma's Man
84
Christmas Tale, A
84
Happy-Go-Lucky
83
Trouble the Water
83
U2 3D
82
Tell No One
82
Rachel Getting Married
82
Frozen River
82
Let the Right One In
81
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
79
Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
78
I've Loved You So Long
77
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
76
Betrayal - Nerakhoon, The
75
Pool, The
73
Girl Cut in Two, A
72
I Served the King of England
70
I.O.U.S. A
69
Ashes of Time Redux
69
Fear(s) of the Dark
68
August Evening
67
Synecdoche, New York
64
Appaloosa
63
JCVD
63
Eden
63
Changeling
62
Duchess, The
59
We Are Wizards
57
Special
57
Sixty Six
56
Religulous
55
Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The
55
What Just Happened?
54
Battle in Seattle
54
Good Dick
53
RocknRolla
51
Morning Light
50
Breakfast with Scot
47
How About You
47
Choke
46
Dukes, The
43
Tru Loved
43
Gardens of the Night
41
Cthulhu
40
Igor
40
Other End of the Line, The
34
My Name Is Bruce
34
Otto; or Up with Dead People
32
Repo! The Genetic Opera
31
Hounddog
30
Guitar, The
28
Fireproof
27
Lake City
26
House of the Sleeping Beauties
26
Filth and Wisdom
xx
Dostana
xx
Nobel Son
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Beautiful Country, The
Sony Pictures Classics
 |
|
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for some language and a crude sexual reference
Starring
Bai Ling,
Nick Nolte,
Tim Roth,
John Hussey,
Temuera Morrison,
Arthur J. Nascarella,
and
Damien Nguyen
Bui doi - "less than dust" - is a slur aimed at Vietnamese children with American fathers. This film, set in 1990, relates the odyssey of a young "bui doi" as he escapes Vietnam, endures refugee camp, and survives a brutal ocean crossing and indentured servitude with a human-trafficking ring. Nevertheless, he manages to keep hope, humanity, and a generous spirit alive as he searches for connection with his long-lost family. (Sony Pictures Classics)
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
Foreign
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Sabina Murray (also story)
Lingard Jervey (story)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Hans Petter Moland
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: December 13, 2005
Theatrical: July 8, 2005
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
137 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA / Norway |
| LANGUAGE(S): |
Vietnamese (with English subtitles) |
Nonimated, Golden Berlin Bear, 2004 Berlin International Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
80
The Hollywood Reporter
Kirk Honeycutt
The film achieves its power through a careful gathering of crucial details, in wordless glances, cruelties of nature and of man and the relentless determination to gain the promised land.

80
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
It is a straightforward, conventional narrative, charting seemingly endless cruelty and hardship, but rewards the patient with an eloquent climactic sequence that is impossible to predict.

80
TV Guide
Ken Fox
Versatile, highly skilled Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland's poignant drama examines the lingering effects of U.S. intervention in Southeast Asia.

80
Dallas Observer
Bill Gallo
Generous in spirit and fearlessly observant, this tale of an outcast Vietnamese man's journey to freedom deserves a place of honor among the great films portraying emigrant tenacity.

80
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
The script, by newcomer Sabina Murray, is occasionally cloying as the naive hero falls for a bitter prostitute (Bai Ling), but its epic tale of two cultures tragically entwined is anchored by deep and elemental emotions.

75
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
In the end, it's a heartening, rewarding experience to watch this journey--and, especially, its end.

75
New York Post
Kyle Smith
The movie grows steadily more arresting as it goes on and saves its best parts for last.

75
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
The filmmakers bank against their impulse toward melodrama and deliver a reconciliation that is heartbreakingly understated.

75
San Francisco Examiner
Walter Addiego
Quiet, moving and beautifully shot.

75
USA Today
Claudia Puig
The Beautiful Country might be too slow-moving for some, but it has powerful performances and a multi-layered quality. It is an epic journey worth taking.

75
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Inside the Norwegian director's glove of empathy is a fist of unappeasable anger.

75
Portland Oregonian
M. E. Russell
One of those hard-to-pin-down movies where you're not quite sure which sort of story the filmmakers wanted to tell.

75
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
The Beautiful Country is not a happy film by any means, but it does offer a fragile hope, that beauty exists at the end of every journey, if only one has the strength to finish the trip.

70
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
It is hard not to admire the independence and ambition of The Beautiful Country, even if the film does fall short of its epic intentions.

70
Variety
Derek Elley
Standout performance is by Nolte who, in the final 20 minutes, draws on a deep reservoir of playing broken romantic heroes to portray Binh's father. The subtle, resonant scenes between the two men are worth the price of admission.

63
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
Bai Ling plays a resourceful prostitute from a Malaysian refugee camp who grows harder and more alienated by the day. Nick Nolte, Tim Roth and Temuera Morrison offer strong supporting performances.

63
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Loses itself in melodrama, caricature and narrative missteps.

63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Jason Anderson
With its visual splendour, The Beautiful Country is indeed lovely to behold, but its story of human misery and survival doesn't always benefit from the painstaking art direction, picturesque vistas and surges of dramatic music.

60
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Tasha Robinson
A gorgeous film, framed with an eye that makes every country seem beautiful in one way or another. It's probably fitting that the human element seems fragile and flat by comparison, but the contrast leaves Beautiful Country fairly bland.

58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Bill White
The Beautiful Country has an epic bearing, but a trite and troubled script makes it more a visual tirade than an engaging odyssey.

50
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
Provides a panorama without insight.

50
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
The subject is compelling but the story is very, very slow.

30
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Feels like a manufactured Asian "Chocolat," which drives the label 'art house movie' even further into mainstream banality.


The average user rating for this movie is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 10 User Votes
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