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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
67
$9.99
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Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
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Hurt Locker, The
89
Goodbye Solo
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Tulpan
87
Gomorrah
86
Seraphine
84
Summer Hours
83
U2 3D
83
Revanche
83
Tyson
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
82
Sugar
82
Hunger
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
81
Il Divo
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
80
Food, Inc.
80
Tokyo Sonata
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
78
O'Horten
77
Every Little Step
77
Sin Nombre
75
24 City
74
Treeless Mountain
74
Afghan Star
74
Two Lovers
74
Song of Sparrows, The
74
Lemon Tree
71
Pressure Cooker
71
Jerichow
70
Shall We Kiss?
70
Tony Manero
70
End of the Line, The
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
69
Unmistaken Child
67
$9.99
67
Rudo y Cursi
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
66
Adoration
66
Moon
65
Sex Positive
65
Departures
64
Outrage
64
Examined Life
64
Throw Down Your Heart
64
Lymelife
63
Tokyo!
63
Cheri
63
Dead Snow
63
Tetro
63
Great Buck Howard, The
62
Cherry Blossoms
62
Big Man Japan
62
Not Forgotten
61
Sunshine Cleaning
60
Under Our Skin
59
Sleep Dealer
58
Julia
58
Easy Virtue
57
Away We Go
57
Merry Gentleman, The
57
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56
Girl from Monaco, The
56
American Violet
55
Brothers Bloom, The
54
Is Anybody There?
54
Pontypool
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
52
Quiet Chaos
50
Management
48
Alien Trespass
45
Whatever Works
42
Little Ashes
42
Tennessee
40
Limits of Control, The
40
Paris 36
38
Gigantic
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
35
New York
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
28
Surveillance
22
What Goes Up
18
Downloading Nancy
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
xx
Call of the Wild
xx
Home
xx
Offshore
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
In the Realms of the Unreal
Wellspring Media
FILM:
MPAA RATING: Not Rated
Starring
Henry Darger,
Dakota Fanning (narrator),
and
Larry Pine
This explores the parallel lives of legendary outsider artist Henry Darger, a reclusive janitor by day and a visionary artist by night. (Diorama Films)
| GENRE(S): |
Documentary
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Jessica Yu
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Jessica Yu
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: June 21, 2005
Video: June 21, 2005
Theatrical: December 22, 2004
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
81 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
Nominated, Grand Jury Prize (Documentary), 2004 Sundance 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
San Francisco Chronicle
John McMurtrie
Absorbing and exquisite.
100
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
Darger made art as if the lives of his subjects depended on it. That's how Yu has made her movie.
91
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
A singular and haunting experience.
90
Dallas Observer
Melissa Levine
Yu's approach to the material is brilliant.
89
Austin Chronicle
Marrit Ingman
One need not necessarily appreciate Darger's art to enjoy Yu's sympathetic, intimate, and often breathtaking journey into the workings of his mind.
80
TV Guide
Ken Fox
The result is an astonishingly complex, striking original portrait of an artist whose deeply personal art, intended for no one but God and himself, demands to be treated on its own terms.
80
LA Weekly
Chuck Wilson
Yu has transferred to her superb film, the hushed awe she must have felt the day she walked into the room - and, in a sense, the mind - of this strange, singular individual.
80
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
Filmmaker Jessica Yu, in In the Realms of the Unreal, outlines Darger's lonely life and interviews Lerner's elegant, sympathetic widow Kiyoko and other Darger neighbors -- highlighted by enchanting animation of some of Darger's exquisite scrolls.
80
The Hollywood Reporter
Frank Scheck
A fascinating examination of a mysterious life and the truly bizarre art that it spawned.
80
The New York Times
Dave Kehr
Obscure by nature and unwieldy by design, Darger's work is difficult to confront and consume; Ms. Yu has brought it a little closer, and that is as fine a public service as an art documentary can provide.
75
New York Post
V.A. Musetto
Yu presents a compelling, somewhat disturbing portrait of the artist, who in 2000 was the subject of a major exhibit that toured the world.
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
The film, like its subject, is more adroit with pictures than with words.
75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Has an odd magic about it - the magic of Darger's singularly peculiar dreamworld.
70
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
The path taken by the film is somewhat labyrinthine and obscure, but it offers enough rewards to counterbalance its frustrations.
70
Village Voice
Ed Park
Jessica Yu's elegant new doc In the Realms of the Unreal is a spry, creative response to his (Darger's) oceanic talent and claustrophobic life.
60
Variety
Joe Leydon
Documentarian Jessica Yu employs everything from animation and voiceover thesping to archival documents and eyewitness accounts while examining Henry Darger, a self-taught artist who has been posthumously lionized as a visionary genius.
60
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Noel Murray
In the end, it all gets to be too stifling. The film looks amazing, and there may be no better way to adapt Darger's work to the screen. But Yu's decision to limit the comments on Darger's enduring appeal keeps the audience locked in his cramped room too long, without a window of context.
50
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
Even without much in the way of hard facts, Yu makes intuitive leaps, using animated segments to bring to life Darger's work, and therefore the man - or as much of him as it is possible to fathom.
50
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
Yu's portrait of Darger, which clocks in at 82 minutes, skims over the only aspect of his life that commands respect: his craft.
50
Chicago Tribune
Alan G. Artner
If this documentary were about a serious painter, it would be judged a travesty not unlike commercials that goose up the couple in "American Gothic" or show the Mona Lisa laughing.
 The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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Chad S. gave it an8:
