Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

58 (Untitled)
96 35 Shots of Rum
56 Adam
72 Adela
39 Adventures of Power
78 Afghan Star
61 After the Storm
66 Afterschool
xx All the Best
58 American Casino
72 Amreeka
48 Antichrist
73 Araya
62 Art & Copy
55 As Seen Through These Eyes
76 Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86 Beaches of Agnes, The
13 Beautiful Life, A
70 Beeswax
35 Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71 Big Fan
66 Black Dynamite
51 Blind Date
xx Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76 Bliss
35 Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26 Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57 Boys Are Back, The
45 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81 Bright Star
70 Bronson
45 Burning Plain, The
xx Carriers
55 Casi Divas
57 Chelsea on the Rocks
62 Cloud 9
65 Coco Before Chanel
69 Cold Souls
59 Collapse
44 Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82 Cove, The
75 Crude
82 Damned United, The
67 Departures
xx Dil Bole Hadippa
71 Disgrace
xx Do Knot Disturb
70 Earth Days
24 Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85 Education, An
55 Endgame
xx Eulogy for a Vampire
xx Everyone Else
xx Fatal Promises
56 Fifty Dead Men Walking
62 Five Minutes of Heaven
74 Flame & Citron
49 Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80 Food, Inc.
28 Free Style
xx From Mexico with Love
50 Fuel
25 Gentlemen Broncos
50 Give Me Your Hand
58 Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72 Good Hair
89 Goodbye Solo
52 Grace
66 Harmony and Me
81 Headless Woman, The
xx Heretics, The
63 Horse Boy, The
73 House of the Devil, The
xx How to Seduce Difficult Women
74 Humpday
94 Hurt Locker, The
29 I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16 If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75 In Search of Beethoven
83 In the Loop
61 Intimate Enemies
42 Irene in Time
70 It Might Get Loud
46 Killing Kasztner
19 Labor Day
xx Laila's Birthday
41 Little Ashes
41 Little Traitor, The
66 Liverpool
34 Looking for Palladin
80 Lorna's Silence
83 Maid, The
xx Ministers, The
59 More Than a Game
67 Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34 Motherhood
62 My One and Only
xx Mystery Team
48 New York, I Love You
73 Night and Day
66 No Impact Man
47 Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34 Other Man, The
xx Painter Sam Francis, The
54 Paper Heart
xx Paradise
68 Paranormal Activity
68 Paris
44 Peter and Vandy
35 Play the Game
77 Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx Pretty Ugly People
65 Providence Effect, The
76 Rembrandt's J'accuse
69 September Issue, The
79 Serious Man, A
40 Shrink
61 Skin
77 Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx Skiptracers
46 Splinterheads
39 St. Trinian's
89 Still Walking
50 Stoning of Soraya M., The
55 Storm
65 Tetro
70 That Evening Sun
72 Thirst
xx Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61 Trucker
xx Turning Green
83 U2 3D
66 Unmade Beds
66 Unmistaken Child
70 Visual Acoustics
55 Walt & El Grupo
67 Way We Get By, The
69 We Live in Public
64 Wedding Song, The
64 Where is Where?
xx White on Rice
74 Woman in Berlin, A
69 World's Greatest Dad
70 Yes Men Fix the World
69 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx You, the Living

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Fast Runner, The

EMAILPRINTLot 47 Films

Fast Runner, The reviews
91
7.7 User Score:

Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama

Written by: Paul Apak Angilirq

Directed by: Zacharias Kunuk

Release Date:
Theatrical: June 7, 2002
DVD: February 11, 2003

Running Time: 172 minutes, Color

Origin: Canada

Summary

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)

What The Critics Said

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.

Read Full Review >
100

Variety Lisa Nesselson

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

Read Full Review >
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.

Read Full Review >
100

The New York Times Dana Stevens

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

Read Full Review >
100

Time Richard Corliss

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

Read Full Review >
100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

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

Read Full Review >
100

Village Voice J. Hoberman

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

Read Full Review >
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.

Read Full Review >
100

Film Threat Patrick "Flick" Harrison

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

Read Full Review >
100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

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

Read Full Review >
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.

90

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

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

Read Full Review >
90

New Times (L.A.) Bill Gallo

An authentic and thrilling glimpse into Inuit culture and tradition.

90

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.

Read Full Review >
90

LA Weekly Paul Malcolm

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

Read Full Review >
90

Slate David Edelstein

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

Read Full Review >
89

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.

Read Full Review >
88

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

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

Read Full Review >
88

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.

Read Full Review >
88

New York Post Megan Lehmann

It is an important, thoroughly bewitching work of art.

Read Full Review >
88

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.

Read Full Review >
88

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.

Read Full Review >
80

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.

Read Full Review >
80

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.

Read Full Review >
80

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.

Read Full Review >
75

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.

75

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.

Read Full Review >
50

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

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

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 7.7 (out of 10) based on 50 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.

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use