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Unforeseen, The
The Cinema Guild

Unforeseen, The reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 76 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
7.5 out of 10
based on 15 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 2 votes
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Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Gary Bradley, Wiliam Greider, Robert Redford, Willie Nelson, Ann Richards, Judah Folkman , and Wendell Berry

Executive produced by Terrence Malick and Robert Redford, this 2008 Independent Spirit Award winning-documentary tells the story of a Texas real estate developer who enjoys meteoric success until an environmental movement and the S&L crisis threaten to undo his plans. In an era of rising home foreclosures, failing financial institutions and profound uncertainty about the future, this film prompts viewers to both reexamine the American Dream as well as their own definitions of what it means to truly grow.(The Cinema Guild)


GENRE(S): Documentary  
DIRECTED BY: Laura Dunn  
RELEASE DATE: Theatrical: February 29, 2008 
RUNNING TIME: 88 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

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
TV Guide Ken Fox
Dunn's elegant, full-length debut presents a frightening and powerful argument against the kind of reckless, profit-driven land development that not only threatens natural resources, but life itself.
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100
Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
One of the most extraordinary accomplishments in recent American nonfiction filmmaking. It hits hard as to facts, and opens its eyes to inexpressible mysteries. It strikes a clear moral and philosophical stance, and then -- as part of that philosophical stance, actually -- reveals its villain as a tragic and sympathetic figure.
Read Full Review
90
Variety Robert Koehler
Observing locally and thinking globally, Laura Dunn's astonishing debut doc feature The Unforeseen is the kind of transformative viewing experience that has made the current period a golden age for nonfiction film.
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83
The Onion (A.V. Club) Sam Adams
Although the parts of The Unforeseen dealing with the anti-development movement are pure go-team agitprop, Dunn lends the movie a lyrical cast by combining aerial shots of the transformed countryside with the voice of Wendell Berry, reading from his poem "Sabbaths."
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80
Village Voice Jim Ridley
Making her first feature, Austin filmmaker Dunn no doubt included some unnecessary detours for star power's sake (like the inessential footage of Redford and Nelson). But it's ultimately the movie's glacial pace and willingness to let its mind and eye wander that produces its spiritual and intellectual heft--not to mention its atypical visual splendor.
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80
Film Threat Sally Foster
Dunn does an incredible job of condensing this extremely complex battle into a story that is simple and understandable, as well as extremely compelling.
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80
Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Director Laura Dunn presents a surprisingly sympathetic portrait of Bradley, but her advocacy is clear enough in the primal images of natural beauty and her subjects' heartfelt statements of respect for the landscape.
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75
San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego
What's unforeseen in Unforeseen, a superior documentary by Laura Dunn, are the consequences of a certain mind-set about mankind's relationship to the world and, finally, to itself.
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75
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Add The Unforeseen to the catalog of artfully produced nonfiction films that show how humans are screwing up the planet.
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70
New York Magazine David Edelstein
Hideously depressing but also enraging documentary.
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70
The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck
An unusually poetic and meditative eco-themed documentary, Laura Dunn's The Unforeseen is as beautiful as it is ultimately depressing.
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70
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Though The Unforeseen has a few too many clips of Robert Redford, its environmentalist executive producer, its strength is its realization that these unforeseen developments are making few people happy.
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67
Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt
The result is an expansive and ambivalent testament to human ingenuity, human intransigence, and nature’s endangered yet enduring power to move.
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60
The New York Times Manohla Dargis
There’s nothing wrong with Mr. Redford and his love of nature. But there’s something irritatingly softheaded about the generic, nostalgia-tinged blandishments that the film finally resorts to -- a Wendell Berry poem, a grizzled old farmer wielding a sickle -- in place of truly hard questions and solutions that may effect meaningful change. With the polar ice caps melting, I want more than poetry and blame. I want a plan.
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50
Boston Globe Ty Burr
The film's case against overdevelopment needs to be, and could be, aggressive, airtight. It should play to the unconverted. Instead, The Unforeseen gives us . . . poetry.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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