X
  • 2001
  • Not Rated
  • Cowboy Booking International
  • 1 h 30 m
  • 2001
  • Not Rated
  • Cowboy Booking International
  • 1 h 30 m

Summary Ten students at John Marshall High School in Los Angeles were given video cameras to film their lives. There were no limitations on what they could shoot. After one week, the cameras were given to ten new students, who filmed their lives for a week, then handed the cameras on. Like chain letters, these cameras were passed from student to...

Directed By: Kirby Dick

  • 2001
  • Not Rated
  • Cowboy Booking International
  • 1 h 30 m
  • 2001
  • Not Rated
  • Cowboy Booking International
  • 1 h 30 m

Chain Camera

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 12 Critic Reviews
68
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Summary Ten students at John Marshall High School in Los Angeles were given video cameras to film their lives. There were no limitations on what they could shoot. After one week, the cameras were given to ten new students, who filmed their lives for a week, then handed the cameras on. Like chain letters, these cameras were passed from student to...

Directed By: Kirby Dick

Where to Watch

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 12 Critic Reviews
68
75% Positive
9 Reviews
25% Mixed
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 12 Critic Reviews
68
75% Positive
9 Reviews
25% Mixed
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
90
By turns playful, harrowing, intensely moving, and uproariously funny, Chain Camera cuts away all documentary artifice and goes straight to the source, allowing these kids to reveal themselves with the utmost directness and candor.
By Scott Tobias FULL REVIEW
80
Hilarious, unnerving and remarkably intimate portrait of multiethnic adolescent life that lends vigorous new meaning to the term "teen movie."
By Manohla Dargis FULL REVIEW
75
Informative, funny, sad and intriguing.
By Steven Rea FULL REVIEW
70
Filtered through tears, laughter and affection, the results -- are touching and fascinating though, by their nature unilluminated by dispassionate analysis.
By Lawrence Van Gelder FULL REVIEW
70
What's surprising is how bright and engaging these kids are, and for once you're left wanting more.
By Ken Fox FULL REVIEW
50
Often tedious, sometimes fascinating anthology.
By Jack Mathews FULL REVIEW
50
Absorbing in places, but considering the large and diverse pool the filmmakers had to draw from, it's a surprisingly repetitive and predictable collection of big-city sagas.
By John Petrakis FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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Details

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Production Company Cinemax Reel Life, hain Camera Pictures
Release Date Jun 22, 2001
Duration 1 h 30 m
Rating Not Rated
Genres
Website http://chaincamera.com/
View All Details

Awards

Sundance Film Festival
• 1 Nomination

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