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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

97
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
83
Alexandra
43
Anamorph
35
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32
Backseat
80
Band's Visit, The
62
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47
Bella
63
Blind Mountain
71
Blindsight
47
Boarding Gate
63
Body of War
58
Bra Boys
70
Caramel
54
Cashback
44
Chaos Theory
32
Chapter 27
69
Chicago 10
82
Chop Shop
46
CJ7
78
Counterfeiters, The
30
Cover
48
Dark Matter
35
Deal
61
Dhamma Brothers, The
92
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
74
Duchess of Langeais, The
20
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
58
Fall, The
43
Favor, The
58
First Saturday in May, The
57
Flawless
87
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
xx
From Within
44
Frontier(s)
58
Fugitive Pieces
41
Funny Games
66
George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
61
Girls Rock!
55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
57
Grand, The
58
Hats Off
68
Honeydripper
xx
Jack and Jill vs. the World
67
Jellyfish
xx
Kiss the Bride
37
Life Before Her Eyes, The
72
Life of Reilly, The
50
Look
65
Married Life
35
Meet Bill
63
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
52
Mister Lonely
52
My Blueberry Nights
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
49
Noise
60
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
83
Paranoid Park
55
Pathology
48
Penelope
90
Persepolis
62
Planet B-Boy
xx
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67
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44
Previous Engagement, A
72
Priceless
17
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72
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48
Run, Fat Boy, Run
85
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24
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62
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56
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Tracey Fragments, The
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83
U2 3D
59
Under the Same Moon
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Unforeseen, The
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Unsettled
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Up the Yangtze
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Vice
79
Visitor, The
64
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57
Without the King
74
Witnesses, The
63
XXY
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75
Young@Heart
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Zombie Strippers
97
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
92
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
91
Up the Yangtze
90
Persepolis
87
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
85
Savages, The
83
Paranoid Park
83
Alexandra
83
U2 3D
82
Chop Shop
82
Taxi to the Dark Side
80
Band's Visit, The
79
Visitor, The
78
Counterfeiters, The
76
Unforeseen, The
76
Stuff and Dough
75
Young@Heart
75
Shotgun Stories
74
Witnesses, The
74
Duchess of Langeais, The
72
Roman de gare
72
Priceless
72
Tuya's Marriage
72
Life of Reilly, The
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
71
Blindsight
71
Standard Operating Procedure
70
Caramel
69
Redbelt
69
Chicago 10
68
Honeydripper
67
Snow Angels
67
Praying with Lior
67
Jellyfish
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
66
George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
66
Shelter
65
Married Life
64
Surfwise
64
Water Lilies
63
XXY
63
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
63
Body of War
63
Blind Mountain
62
Planet B-Boy
62
Son of Rambow
62
Battle for Haditha
61
Dhamma Brothers, The
61
Girls Rock!
60
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
59
Under the Same Moon
58
First Saturday in May, The
58
Fall, The
58
Fugitive Pieces
58
Hats Off
58
Bra Boys
57
Flawless
57
Teeth
57
Without the King
57
Grand, The
56
Turn the River
56
Then She Found Me
55
Vice
55
Tracey Fragments, The
55
Pathology
55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
54
Cashback
52
Mister Lonely
52
My Blueberry Nights
50
Look
49
Noise
48
Run, Fat Boy, Run
48
Dark Matter
48
Penelope
47
Bella
47
Boarding Gate
46
CJ7
45
Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?
45
Zombie Strippers
44
Frontier(s)
44
Chaos Theory
44
Previous Engagement, A
43
Anamorph
43
Favor, The
41
Funny Games
40
Sleepwalking
37
Life Before Her Eyes, The
35
Meet Bill
35
Babysitters, The
35
Deal
32
Backseat
32
Chapter 27
30
Cover
24
Sex and Death 101
20
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
17
Prom Night
xx
Tashan
xx
Unsettled
xx
Plumm Summer, A
xx
Kiss the Bride
xx
Jack and Jill vs. the World
xx
From Within
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Borstal Boy
Strand Releasing
MPAA RATING: Not Rated
Starring
Shawn Hatosy,
Danny Dyer,
Michael York,
Lee Ingleby,
Robin Laing,
Mark Huberman,
and
Eva Birthistle
An Irish film based on the memoirs of noted author and raconteur Brendan Behan. (Strand Releasing)
| GENRE(S): |
Foreign
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Nye Heron
Peter Sheridan
Brendan Behan (book)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Peter Sheridan
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: October 15, 2002
Video: October 15, 2002
Theatrical: March 1, 2002
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
91 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
Ireland / UK |

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
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
But if the film flirts with being sentimental, it never completely gives in: The inherent strength of the material as well as the integrity of the filmmakers gives this coming-of-age story restraint as well as warmth.

70
LA Weekly
John Patterson
Overall Sheridan keeps both "Oirishry" and sentimentality in check. He captures the book's evenhanded sense.

70
Film Threat
Michael Dequina
Forces a self-examination that is both traumantic and revealing.

70
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
A likable rites-of-passage memory piece doused in period nostalgia, including the prominent use of vintage Movietone newsreels to mark the events of World War II.

70
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Scott Tobias
Shows an unusual degree of generosity toward all its characters, and its tenderness yields some affecting moments, even if they don't ring entirely true.

63
Miami Herald
Connie Ogle
An important and interesting story, but the reform school itself never seems terribly harsh.

60
New Times (L.A.)
Andy Klein
While the movie tries to make the connection between the rough but sensitive lad we see on screen and the notorious carouser of later years, there's little here to suggest whatever torment led Behan to drunkenness and an absurdly early death at 41.
58
Portland Oregonian
Kim Morgan
Though exploring, among other things, fallibility, homosexuality, injustice and loss, the picture seems afraid to really make any kind of strong statement, whether political or psychological.

58
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
A quaint, romanticized rendering.

50
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
The film's intimations of bisexual romance have a certain innate drama that no amount of bad acting or cornball rugby matches can completely erase.

50
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
It's really a crock: a coming-of-age boys' prison film that has only a fanciful link with Behan's life. The film is a bastard grandchild of Tony Richardson's 1962 "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner."

50
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
The film moves briskly enough to be entertaining, but it can't escape the smothering hero worship that Sheridan infuses into every frame.
50
TV Guide
Ken Fox
Given the serious subject matter, this adaptation of Irish writer Brendan Behan's autobiographical novel is surprisingly light and exceedingly good-natured.

50
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
My problem with Borstal Boy isn't so much with the facts as with the tone.

50
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
The result is a film that will probably please people already fascinated by Behan but leave everyone else yawning with admiration.

40
New York Magazine
Peter Rainer
For all its triteness, Sheridan's sentimentality has its poignancy: This adolescent boy is all set up to live out a halcyon life he'll never have.

40
Salon.com
Andrew O'Hehir
As drama it feels forced and highly conventional.

38
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Somewhere along the way, Borstal Boy became fatally compromised.

30
Variety
Derek Elley
Mixes a rites-of-passage story with political and sexual elements to solid but finally uninvolving results.

30
Chicago Reader
Ted Shen
The direction is so muted and sentimental and the pacing so soporific that only Ciarian Tanham's saturated color cinematography of the sylvan countryside breaks the monotony.

10
Village Voice
Michael Atkinson
Sheridan seems terrified of the book's irreverent energy, and scotches most of its élan, humor, bile, and irony. What's left wouldn't have substantiated a memoir of any reputation, much less a movie.


The average user rating for this movie is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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