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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Unforeseen, The

EMAILPRINTThe Cinema Guild

Unforeseen, The reviews
76
7.5 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 15 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 2 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Documentary

Written by:

Directed by: Laura Dunn

Release Date:
Theatrical: February 29, 2008

Running Time: 88 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

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)

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.

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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

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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