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Fast Runner, The
Lot 47 Films


7.7

based on 29 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 49 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Natar Ungalaaq, Sylvia Ivalu, Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq, Lucy Tulugarjuk, Madeline Ivalu, Paul Qulitalik, Eugene Ipkarnak, and Pakkak Innushuk

Evil in the form of an unknown shaman divides a small community of nomadic Inuit, upsetting its balance and spirit. Twenty years pass. Two brothers emerge to challenge the evil order: Amaqjuaq, the Strong One, and Atanarjuat, the Fast Runner. (Lot 47 Films)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Paul Apak Angilirq
DIRECTED BY:	Zacharias Kunuk
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: February 11, 2003 Video: February 11, 2003 Theatrical: June 7, 2002
RUNNING TIME:	172 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Canada
LANGUAGE(S):	Inuktitut (with English subtitles)

Original title "Atanarjuat"; Best First Feature, 2001 Cannes Film Festival; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Score, Claude Jutra Award (for Best First Feature), 2002 Genie (Canadian Academy) Awards

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

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Nearly three hours long, and deliberately paced at that, this first feature ever in the Inuit language is a demanding experience. But the rewards for those who risk the journey are simply extraordinary.

100

Variety Lisa Nesselson

The first-ever screenplay written in the Inuit language, Inuktitut -- and the first time's a charm.

100

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Don't miss The Fast Runner. If you do, you will deprive yourself of not only one of the most intriguing feature-film projects in decades and enough plain-spoken anthropology for three credits at Harvard, but one of the most flat-out entertaining movies of the year.

100

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Stunning, fully formed masterpiece.

100

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Not merely an interesting document from a far-off place; it is a masterpiece.

100

Time Richard Corliss

It is a ripping yarn and a spectacularly new and odd vision.

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Some may find it slow. I found it utterly spellbinding.

100

Village Voice J. Hoberman

So elemental in its means yet so cosmic in its drama, it could herald a rebirth of cinema.

100

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

A landmark movie that becomes a priceless entryway into a distant land and its people, few of whom will ever seem as foreign and far away again.

100

Film Threat Patrick "Flick" Harrison

This is quite possibly the best Canadian film of all time.

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

An experience so engrossing it is like being buried in a new environment.

100

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

A gorgeous, engrossing, utterly alien and fresh movie that has the human truth and impact of classic Greek myth and the overwhelming beauty and mastery of the greatest epic films.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Exciting not as ethnography but as storytelling, as drama, and as filmmaking.

New Times (L.A.) Bill Gallo

An authentic and thrilling glimpse into Inuit culture and tradition.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

It's a difficult film to follow and at 172 minutes is maybe a half-hour too long. But simply as a sensory experience The Fast Runner is amazing.

LA Weekly Paul Malcolm

The first REALLY great mythic film of the summer has arrived.

Slate David Edelstein

One of the most enthralling three hours you'll ever spend at the theater.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

The perfect antidote to the summer heat in Austin, more refreshing even than a dip in our chilly holy waters of Barton Springs.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

More than once during The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat), it's easy to forget you're watching a movie.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

This long (nearly three hours), revelatory movie is both a thrilling adventure about endurance and survival, and an elegiac examination of centuries-old tribal culture, fast-fading in the new millennium.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

It is an important, thoroughly bewitching work of art.

Boston Globe Loren King

Magically transports the viewer across time and space. As it does so, it becomes a humbling reminder of the universality of the human experience.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

If you're put off by deliberate filmmaking (or subtitles, though the movie doesn't have much dialogue), you're in the wrong spot. If not, you'll see why voters gave "Atanarjuat," as it's officially called, a 2002 Oscar nomination for best foreign film.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

At times it's plodding and inchoate, but there's certainly nothing else like it in the movies right now, and it has at least one great sequence.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Not only is it a reintroduction to a fascinating culture that has survived 4,000 years in a remote and most inhospitable climate, but it's also the first film ever directed by an Inuit filmmaker and featuring an all-Inuit cast.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Director Zacharias Kunuk captures that feeling well, but he never quite develops it into a theme epic enough to fill Atanarjuat's scope. His film is by turns mesmerizing and trying, with enough of the former to make the latter worthwhile.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

By all means, buy a ticket to The Fast Runner, but don't go expecting a masterpiece; actually, in its first hour, the dramaturgy and staging of scenes set in igloos are cramped and amateurish.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Its refusal to draw solid lines between "good" and "evil" characters is more sophisticated than the psychology of most current commercial pictures. It's well worth a trek to a theater adventurous enough to show it.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

It's an endurance test. Though never boring, the movie is a fairly long slog through the snow.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.7 (out of 10) based on 49 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Meredith P. gave it an8:
Unique film that shows a way of life.

Paul H. gave it an8:
gotta agree with Dan C but this is a unique movie well worth watching. those 2 or 3 scenes are memorable & will stay with you for a long long time.bound to be still watched 50 years from now and a reminder of cinemas importance in depicting other worlds.

Stan B. gave it a9:
I've been reading "The Iliad". It wasn't mluch of a switch to go from Ancient Greece and Troy to the Canadian tundra. A worthy epic!

Bill E. gave it a9:
One of the best movies I've seen in the last 5 years. It took a couple of minutes to adjust to the video rather than film production, but then I sat back and marvelled in delight. I recommend this to all of my friends.

Leticia H. gave it a1:
i watched this film in my grade 12 sociology class, and most of the class snuck out somewhere in the second hour, not to return. I did watch the entire film, and i tried to be objective as my teacher was absolutley enthralled by it. I have to conclude tho, that the only thing that made it worthwhile watching was reading all these reviews after and laughing at the insulting ones and hearing hints of sarcasm from the critics. Truly i was bored by it. I have seen snow before and although some things can seem beautiful a million times over these film makers did not seem to make an effort in that way. I am not biased because i love hollywood movies so much and that is what i was expecting..in truth i neither love hollywood nor expected it, but the content and plot while perhaps true were not uplifting to me. to use the teen term; same crap, different pile. if this film was edited i would be interested to know what they filmed that could possibly have been worse than what they left in. it gets a one becuase it had the potential, with the story line to be a captivating film. i did learn more about the inuit culture, but i do beleive it would have been more interesting in a textbook.

Sio L. gave it a10:
This is a brilliant film that captures the best and worst of human nature... sometimes in the same characters. Once you get past the fact that it is filmed (as far as I can tell) entirely in natural light, and is therefore lacking in Hollywood-style smoothness, it is captivating and potent. I rented it, tonight, and when I return it, tomorrow, I'm going to *buy* a copy.

D. P. gave it a10:
This was a brilliant film. Although I enjoyed the narrative, I am completely amazed that people can live in that kind of environment. An excellent movie.

Fast Runner, The Lot 47 Films

Fast Runner, The
Lot 47 Films