X
- 2007
- Oscilloscope
- 1 h 20 m
- 2007
- Oscilloscope
- 1 h 20 m
Summary Killer of Sheep examines the black Los Angeles ghetto of Watts in the mid-1970s through the eyes of Stan, a sensitive dreamer who is growing detached and numb from the psychic toll of working at a slaughterhouse. The film offers no solutions; it merely presents life -- sometimes hauntingly bleak, sometimes filled with transcendent joy an...
Directed By: Charles Burnett
Written By: Charles Burnett
- 2007
- Oscilloscope
- 1 h 20 m
- 2007
- Oscilloscope
- 1 h 20 m
Killer of Sheep
7.5
Summary Killer of Sheep examines the black Los Angeles ghetto of Watts in the mid-1970s through the eyes of Stan, a sensitive dreamer who is growing detached and numb from the psychic toll of working at a slaughterhouse. The film offers no solutions; it merely presents life -- sometimes hauntingly bleak, sometimes filled with transcendent joy an...
Directed By: Charles Burnett
Written By: Charles Burnett
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 23 Critic Reviews
96
100% Positive
23 Reviews
23 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 23 Critic Reviews
96
100% Positive
23 Reviews
23 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
You have to be prepared to see a film like this, or able to relax and allow it to unfold. It doesn't come, as most films do, with built-in instructions about how to view it. One scene follows another with no apparent pattern, reflecting how the lives of its family combine endless routine with the interruptions of random events.
See Killer of Sheep, and see it again and again. It's one of those truly rare movies that just get better and better.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 27 User Ratings
7.5
81% Positive
22 Ratings
22 Ratings
7% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
11% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 27 User Ratings
7.5
81% Positive
22 Ratings
22 Ratings
7% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
11% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
Killer of Sheep is lovable and a legendary film of 2007. This movie is standing just right where we would normally have one of the best films of the year.
Report
Just as "The Velvet Underground & Nico" spurred wannabe musicians to actually go forth with their dreams, "Killer of Sheep" opened up the door to independent filmmaking to anyone with a camera and the vision. As a film, the 'story' relies on a series of episodic scenes (accompanied by an incredible soundtrack) to depict poverty in the Watts ghetto. This is both the film's greatest strength and weakness, because even though the neorealist style forces the viewer to experience the hardships with authentic intimacy, the lack of character development or plot makes the impression somewhat empty, (though not without a profound effect)
Report
Killer of Sheep is a wonder any number of ways...but the greatest wonder of all is that this 1977 film, made for $10,000 by filmmaker Charles Burnett while he was still at UCLA’s film school and shot on weekends in Watts with a mostly amateur cast, still has the power to move us.
A lyrical, yet intensely rooted, tragic vision.
Shot on a year's worth of weekends on a minuscule budget (less than $20,000), this remarkable work--conceivably the best single feature about ghetto life that we have--was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry as one of the key works of the American cinema, an ironic and belated form of recognition for a film that has had virtually no distribution. It shouldn't be missed.
Having heard tell of its wonders for decades, I found the actual movie less transporting than I'd been led to expect. It's clearly a brilliant debut.
There isn't really an overall arc present in Killer of Sheep, and that's the point. There's really nothing meant to be expressed in Killer of Sheep but the experience of poverty, and the inevitability of crime in the face of poverty.
After watching this movie twice, I have concluded that (1) the emperor wears no clothes and (2) if you think highly of this movie, you are PRETENTIOUS. Please, be honest for a moment. You read all the critical acclaim this movie has garnered (it's the only reason you saw it in the first place) and you don't want to seem like the person that "doesn't get it." Permit me to help you feel better about yourself: this movie was unwatchably bad. You know it; I know it; and now I give you license to be truthful.
Imagine for a moment if this movie was filmed in color. The "artsy" feel is instantly removed. All that is left is intolerably bad acting and no story. People have written that this movie has a nontraditional storyline. If you want a nontraditional story of life in an impoverished neighborhood, drive to an impoverished neighborhood and hang out for a while. You would never do this for two reasons: it's a stupid idea and you would be insanely pretentious to do this. That's all this movie has to offer.
Report
Awards
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Berlin International Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
National Film Preservation Board, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
