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Shit Year
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50 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 6 Critics What's this?

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  • Summary: Renowned actress Colleen West aban­dons her suc­cess­ful career for a secluded life in the hills. But the quiet and peace of mind she longed for is dis­rupted by the noisy con­struc­tion of neigh­bor­ing hous­ing devel­op­ments. Before long, Colleen dis­cov­ers that she really can’t stand her­self now that she has given up the only thing that she has ever truly been pas­sion­ate about. As an alter­na­tive to iso­la­tion, she reluc­tantly befriends her jubi­lant, whim­si­cal neigh­bor and recon­nects with her estranged brother who drops by unan­nounced after hear­ing about her retire­ment. Haunted by lone­li­ness and past desires, Colleen begins to feel as if she has lived her life through the char­ac­ters she has played on stage and screen. Ulti­mately, she is forced to con­front loss, her fail­ures and mis­takes, by reliv­ing a recent affair with younger actor Har­vey West whom she met dur­ing her final stage per­for­mance. Real­ity becomes insep­a­ra­ble from Colleen’s unhinged obses­sions in a hal­lu­ci­na­tory strug­gle to accept her own vul­ner­a­bil­ity and reclaim herself. (Cinemad Presents)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Glenn Heath Jr.
    Sep 27, 2011
    75
    Shit Year is a thematic twin to Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard," both heightened fables about the slow disintegration of a retired actress mourning her now-dead career by retreating inward.
  2. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Karina Longworth
    Sep 20, 2011
    60
    Barkin is often fascinating in playing a character who, in both her heroic bitchery and hysterical sadness, is more of a concept than a person, in a film that ultimately seems to be "about" nothing more or less than the actress' magnetic face.
  3. indieWIRE
    Reviewed by: Eric Kohn
    Sep 21, 2011
    58
    Ellen Barkin puts on a bold, candid performance in Cam Archer's Shit Year, but the enigmatic movie is composed of too many fragments to sustain her efforts.

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