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Cinemania
Wellspring Media


6.6

based on 14 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 3 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Jack Angstreich, Eric Chadbourne, Bill Heidbreder, Roberta Hill, Harvey Schwartz, Richard Aidala, Tia Bonacore, David Schwartz, and Michael Slipp

Meet Jack, Eric, Bill, Roberta, and Harvey -- five cinemaniacs whose viewing habits make regular old cinephiles look like simple recreational moviegoers. (Tribeca Film Festival)

GENRE(S):	Documentary
DIRECTED BY:	Angela Christlieb Stephen Kijak
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: October 7, 2003 Video: October 7, 2003 Theatrical: May 16, 2003
RUNNING TIME:	80 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA / Germany

Winner, Golden Starfish for Best Documentary, 2002 Hamptons 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...

100

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

You may become a cinemaniac yourself after sitting through this beauty.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

What Christlieb and Kijak do so well is keeping these folks from not seeming like loons.

Film Threat Rory L. Aronsky

A fun time and a must-see.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

It would be easy to mock or patronize them. Cinemania does neither. They seem quite satisfied with their lives, which is more than can be said for a lot of people with more conventional lifestyles.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Both compelling and disturbing, this tragicomic documentary follows five dreamers as they pursue romance.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

They talk warmly and with enthusiasm about certain titles, but I have the eerie feeling that they must be at a movie whether they enjoy it or not.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

The filmmakers aren't exactly cruel, but they focus on compulsion rather than passion, which by implication tends to tarnish the more intellectual and scholarly members of the breed.

Village Voice Dennis Lim

Built on a foundation of cinephilia, Cinemania is a valentine of sorts to this movie mecca (you have to love a city, and a film culture, that can sustain such bottomless appetites).

Washington Post Desson Thomson

It's too short, and it doesn't delve deep enough. But it's thoroughly enjoyable.

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

A couple of the cinemaniacs are less defined than others, but the portrait that emerges is a detailed composite of life on the fringe.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

It is left for Mr. Heidbreder to offer the fanciest rationalization for their addiction. Asked whether the movies are a substitute for life, he rejects the suggestion that their behavior is pathological and declares that film itself "is a form of living."

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

A voyeuristic look at voyeurs, Cinemania never seems sure whether it's a comedy or a tragedy. Instead, the film just seems intent on depicting its subjects as lovable kooks, a reductive portrayal that does little to acknowledge the desperation and loneliness that permeates every frame.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Their mania might be funny if it weren't so creepy.

Variety Ken Eisner

An unsparing, if light-touched, look at obsession, denial and where to find the cheap seats in Manhattan.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.6 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mette T. gave it a10:
this was my favorite film at Göteborg Film Festival a few years ago and i have seen it again since...i think if you look for 'reasons' you will find them...do you need everythign explained to you and served on a platter - i think this pop-psychology attitude is very simplistic - the characters are revealed beautifully through the detail of their crazy lives - they are endearing, revealing and ultimately very human. i feel sad for you to miss the whole point of the film! and the end, this is the best, smartest ending of all. The reflexive quality of showing filmbuffs a film of themselves, yes, this is a very smart reference to jean Rouch i think, but wow, it made me love it all the more.

Lowell Highschool gave it a0:
What a bore. The directors I believe got lost and never found what they were looking, and that is reasoning for why these people have an obbsesion with movies. Besides the movie has no direction and in the end goes no where .

Ingrid F. gave it a 10:
62? are you nuts? this is pure 100!this documentary wipes the floor with Bowling For Columbine, Capturing the Freedmans, and Spellbound. I've seen it four times and it gets better every time - a fascinating, slightly surreal, funny, and really touching look at five film-buffs on the very, very edge. One of the best portraits of modern madness I've ever seen, because it takes its subjects at face-value and treats them with respect. "All 'normal' means is being like everybody else, and film buffs are people who don't want to be like everybody else." Bravo!

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Cinemania Wellspring Media

Cinemania
Wellspring Media