The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat)
User Score
7.8 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 58 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 47 out of 58
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 58
  3. Negative: 7 out of 58

Review this movie

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. ryancarroll88
    Aug 27, 2010
    9
    Being the first movie to ever be filmed in the Inuit language, Inuktitut, 'Atanarjuat' is as much a cultural edification as it is a sprawling tribal drama. Director Zacharias Kunuk uses the most of this unique setting, taking the time to admire the vast, open wilderness and infuse the traditions and lifestyle of the Inuit people into the script. The major misstep of this movie is its running time - at 172 minutes, I felt some of the lesser plot points could have been cut to make watching the movie less daunting. All in all, though, 'Atanarjuat' ranks as one of the better things to come out of Canada.… Expand
  2. RicardoFrancoN.
    Feb 9, 2003
    10
    Just Great! Wonderful!
  3. BarryL.
    Jul 7, 2002
    10
    Remarkable Movie. Slow pace but to go faster would lose the amazing savoring quality.
  4. ChadS.
    Aug 2, 2002
    10
    Be patient. Your sighing will start to dissipate after the first leap forward in time. Your focus will then shift from the snow and onto the people; non-actors, every bit as good as the cast of "George Washington". While the end credits scroll, we see director Zacharias Kunuk at work with his actors, to serve as a reminder to the (hopefully) enraptured audience that these Inuits are giving performances. Some viewers may have a few reservations about this tactic, since it breaks the spell by undermining the versimilitude Kunuk works so hard to achieve. Eskimo couples touch with their noses to create intimacy, but they don't rub them, contrary to popular belief, or perhaps Atanarjuat and Atuat just aren't very demonstrative. My point being, the love story is effective, as well as the other stories of betrayal, revenge, and honor. Look at all the lime green endorsements. This is a great film. Don't let the running time scare you. It goes by fast. … Expand
  5. GaryB.
    Sep 2, 2002
    9
    Fascinating, Left me wanting more!
  6. DarngoodMovie
    Sep 6, 2002
    10
    Thrusts you right into a mystical culture and envelops your mind in the detailed lives of the Inuits; gripping, saddening, and wholly satisfying. The best movie I have seen this year besides Sunshine State.
  7. JackP.
    Feb 8, 2003
    10
    Long but fantastic.
  8. AmyS.
    Sep 5, 2003
    9
    I was haunted by this movie..it was so fascinating and raw. It transported me to another world. The only thing that holds me from saying 'perfect movie' is that I sometimes got the characters confused.... the Inuit facial features are so different from what I am used to seeing. Once I got the characters down, I was absolutely riveted. I watched it, then watched it the day after, and it still stays in my mind. What a powerful movie...… Expand
  9. BillE.
    Jun 21, 2005
    9
    One of the best movies I've seen in the last 5 years. It took a couple of minutes to adjust to the video rather than film production, but then I sat back and marvelled in delight. I recommend this to all of my friends.
  10. PaulH.
    May 30, 2006
    8
    gotta agree with Dan C but this is a unique movie well worth watching. those 2 or 3 scenes are memorable & will stay with you for a long long time.bound to be still watched 50 years from now and a reminder of cinemas importance in depicting other worlds.
  11. SerenaW.
    Jun 14, 2002
    8
    Well-worth seeing. Visually breath-taking and with unexpected plot twists.
  12. KurtS.
    Jul 21, 2002
    10
    Beautifully shot, epic in every way.
  13. AllseeingI
    Jul 21, 2002
    10
    This movie was one of the best I've seen in a while. The cinematography is breathtaking and the depth of the characters kept you enamored to endure this lengthly film.
  14. AtanarjuFatTheSlowRunner
    Jul 24, 2002
    10
    A timeless and universal epic. Those who may balk at sitting through a nearly 3 hour subtitled film shot in a stark environment need not worry. It's mesmerising from start to finish.
  15. [Anonymous]
    Sep 27, 2002
    10
    Fascinating... primal, elemental, raw and natural... goes for the guts, unforgettable.
  16. DeniseB.
    Feb 17, 2003
    10
    Breathtaking.
  17. EmilyR.
    Mar 21, 2003
    10
    A masterpiece!! Watch it and you will understand exactly why the director won the Camera D'Or at Cannes (for best first feature-length film). Shot in DV (Digital Video), which gives the feeling of being present in the Canadian Arctic along with the characters. Simply beautiful.
  18. CorneliusB.
    Mar 1, 2004
    10
    This movie transports the audience to another time and place- one of the best I've ever seen.
  19. armandos
    Jan 22, 2005
    9
    The people that say the movie is too boring have played too many video games. It shows a culture much different from ours. It followed their pace of living, not ours. An excellent film.
  20. D.P.
    Feb 23, 2005
    10
    This was a brilliant film. Although I enjoyed the narrative, I am completely amazed that people can live in that kind of environment. An excellent movie.
  21. SioL.
    Feb 24, 2005
    10
    This is a brilliant film that captures the best and worst of human nature... sometimes in the same characters. Once you get past the fact that it is filmed (as far as I can tell) entirely in natural light, and is therefore lacking in Hollywood-style smoothness, it is captivating and potent. I rented it, tonight, and when I return it, tomorrow, I'm going to *buy* a copy.
  22. Abhijay
    Jun 27, 2002
    8
    Deliberately-paced but visually stunning. An epic fascinating story that transports you to another world in a way that only the most succesful movies can.
  23. SamuelL.
    Nov 13, 2003
    10
    I am sure that the people who disliked this movie would have liked it far better with a class in cultural anthropology. It is a fine testament in the lesson of not putting oneself before the group.
  24. AaronM.
    Feb 11, 2003
    10
    A movie like this requires intelligence to understand.
  25. StanB.
    Jan 16, 2006
    9
    I've been reading "The Iliad". It wasn't mluch of a switch to go from Ancient Greece and Troy to the Canadian tundra. A worthy epic!
  26. MeredithP.
    Jun 24, 2007
    8
    Unique film that shows a way of life.
  27. CaroleS.
    Nov 19, 2002
    10
    Everything a movie should be.
  28. DavidA.
    Nov 26, 2003
    10
    It transports you to another world, without any time reference, but the emotions and messages are universal. The pace matches that of the subjects. Unhurried and without regard for the artificial tempo of modern life.
  29. JohnB
    Nov 16, 2009
    10
    How can you not like this film? The artistry, the storyline, the photography - it's all fantastic.
  30. K.S.
    Oct 26, 2002
    10
    Definitely a masterpiece. Yeah, it doesn't move at the breakneck speed of the usual hollywood hum-drum, but it's all the better for it. Sit still for a while and pay attention!
  31. MargieR.
    Mar 1, 2003
    10
    Spectacular! I wanted to be part of the film crew. A great representation of an ethnography depicting the history of a people. A great milestone for Native American filmakers.
  32. DesiB.
    Aug 4, 2002
    5
    I must admit that I am a man of ordinary taste...I saw the movie with a lot of anticipation...given such high ranking by the critics....and I must tell you that the emperor has no clothes....When I see a movie I look at many things...the story and the art of story telling, performances, photography, music, and finally the overall effect....this is an one dimensional movie....about reality, in an age when even realty TV is all made up....a story told without any makeup and gloss...such movies are rare and the jaded critics found it so refreshing...but an ordinary guy like me came away feeling cheated....what it lacked in hollywood gloss was heaped up on it by critics gloss.....I would not have felt so bad if it was not so hyped up.....lush photography?...the landscape is so bleak that even Ansel Adams could not make it lush...he did need trees...remember.....and the picture is so grainy that too on a small screen...wonder what it would look like on a big screen....real...yes ...you could almost smell the bad breath....unexpected twists in plot?....the plot is as old as humanity......you don't know about it if all you have seen is Dirty Harry...and Star Wars.....elemental ..yes, anthropological study... yes, more real than what national geographic will show you ..and much more dignified ....because it is not some white man's point of view..........worth encouraging such movies...yes....worth seeing... yes...but not for entertainment...may be for education....to broaden your horizons...to see a different point of view....a different style....but you have to be out of your mind to give it a ten...overall I will give it a five...and I am being charitable....but then I am a man of ordinary taste....and yes don't buy a drink when you see this movie...or a trip to the rest room could make you miss some of its lushness...… Expand
  33. BenjaminA.
    Aug 7, 2004
    2
    Is this a joke? How is this B-movie about Eskimos number 4 on metacritic all time list? Honestly. This movie was really boring. I rented this solely based on its high reviews on this site, and was thuroughly disappointed. Wow. I'll give it a bit of credit for being bold and making a movie in Inuit. But skip this one, go to number 5.
  34. RonP.
    Aug 1, 2002
    4
    Aw, come one guys! I cannot believe that MicK LaSalle is the only one who faulted this movie for being too long. It's way too long, buy maybe an hour!. This would have made an interesting short, but spending this much time with these folks was painful, to say the least.
  35. C.M.
    Aug 3, 2002
    4
    I can't remember the last time I looked at my watch 4 times during a movie. I was too bored to see the hidden beauty of this film. I'm suprised bc I loved "The Straight Story" by David Lynch. I just get the feeling that people feel like they "have" to like this movie and so they do.
  36. John
    Jan 8, 2004
    3
    An almost universal failing of critics is that anything they don't understand ultimately gets rated based on cultural and political biases. In today's world native culture = good, WASP culture = bad. This movie gets raves primarily because it is so "native", not because it tells a well-paced story or wows us with its beauty. If there were more right-wing film critics it would get universally panned for the same reason. The fact is, this movie is DULL and raving about it won't forgive your white-guilt nor will it make you seem intellectual. It has honest appeal to those who enjoy cultural anthropology tomes, but for the rest of us it's a snoozer.… Expand
  37. YoonMinC.
    Sep 27, 2003
    7
    Grubby movie about Inuits(or Eskimo folk) misses out on all the advantages of digi-cam filmmaking. Clunky, with its amateurishness masquerading as vitality, it buries the gripping, even exhilarating, core of the story under snow. What could have been a brilliant and daring blend of ethnography and mythology putters to a silly sight of ill-dressed primitives making so many useless gestures. Perhaps, I should give this another try as I was tired and dozing off thru parts of it. Still, if you want a film with anthropological bent with real poetry and visual music, stick to Flaherty's Nanook of the North. Flaherty had even more primitive means at his disposal but a few minutes of his film are more eloquent than hours of Fast Runner. … Expand
  38. RaymondG.
    Sep 7, 2003
    10
    Cultural storytelling at its pinnacle!
  39. LizzieS.
    Jun 24, 2004
    0
    At first i did not want to go to this movie, then i thought, hey it could be a cool movie, maybe a learning experience. After I sat through the painfull 2 hours and 12 minutes of full frontal nudity, and death fights for women I relized what it lacked in captivation it made up for in characters whose name started with a, not that i am against foreign films but this is an insult to common decsency.… Expand
  40. LeticiaH.
    Jun 15, 2005
    1
    i watched this film in my grade 12 sociology class, and most of the class snuck out somewhere in the second hour, not to return. I did watch the entire film, and i tried to be objective as my teacher was absolutley enthralled by it. I have to conclude tho, that the only thing that made it worthwhile watching was reading all these reviews after and laughing at the insulting ones and hearing hints of sarcasm from the critics. Truly i was bored by it. I have seen snow before and although some things can seem beautiful a million times over these film makers did not seem to make an effort in that way. I am not biased because i love hollywood movies so much and that is what i was expecting..in truth i neither love hollywood nor expected it, but the content and plot while perhaps true were not uplifting to me. to use the teen term; same crap, different pile. if this film was edited i would be interested to know what they filmed that could possibly have been worse than what they left in. it gets a one becuase it had the potential, with the story line to be a captivating film. i did learn more about the inuit culture, but i do beleive it would have been more interesting in a textbook.… Expand
  41. HimmyLaya
    Aug 29, 2002
    7
    This is a good film, but INTENSELY OVER-RATED here. You're going to tell me that FAST RUNNER is only 2 points away from METROPOLIS? Not likely. This film is a crisp 76. It loses points for being shot on video, whereas the similar movie HIMALAYA is gorgeous on film. If Himalaya hadn't run out of money, it may have ended up with the better story, so FAST RUNNER is more complete in this way. I think too many critics are seduced by the idea that FR's culture is different and more interesting than our Starbucks culture, but if you look under the surface, what makes humanity ugly in big cities is sitting right inside this same move. I was no uplifted by the film, but depressed to see that petty, mean, and cruel humanity is EVERYWHERE.… Expand
  42. GaetanS.
    Nov 10, 2003
    3
    Interesting because it opens a window to a culture we don't know much about, but the acting and filming is so amateurish that I couldn't go through 3 hours of this snore fest.
  43. MarkS.
    Oct 25, 2003
    2
    You've got to be kidding me. I think I'll go visit the North Pole and do a documentary on ice fishing; maybe I can get the critics to ejaculate all over themselves like they did for this waste of 0's and 1's. Tough to follow, boring, and just plain painful to watch. I'd rather watch ice melt...or my watch, as evidenced by the number of times I prefered looking there rather than few the screen.… Expand
  44. davidg
    Oct 26, 2004
    6
    Interesting and unusual movie, dramatic, unique, striking natural environment. But I'm sorry -- hard to sit through due to boredom! Maybe it's one of those movies that is "supposed to be good" based on the critics' accounts but actually is tiresome to watch.
  45. DanC.
    Jan 27, 2005
    6
    I tried to love it. I didn't. I enjoy character-driven movies and this one definitely was. But it lacked cohesion. In particular, the aesthetics of the movie are weak. The landscape is austerely beautiful, but the cinematography is totally flat. So many shots from the same distance and angle - it makes you realize what a real director does, even on a small film, to make the visuals work. None of that is done here. A few scenes are magnificent: the duel for Atuat, the seduction scene, and the flight across the ice. They make the movie very much worth seeing, but it is not a masterpiece.… Expand
  46. sugarbush
    Apr 2, 2012
    10
    This is a must see. Aboriginal cultures across Canada have great stories worthy of film. With these stories coming alive on film, we get to be immersed in Aboriginal legends. The history of the Fast Runner, comes alive with vivid imagery and will keep drawing you in. Watch the movie, embrace the Arctic, embrace the Innu. With 6 Genie Awards given, the critics are not wrong.

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
91 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 29 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 29
  3. Negative: 0 out of 29
  1. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    89
    The perfect antidote to the summer heat in Austin, more refreshing even than a dip in our chilly holy waters of Barton Springs.
    Read full review
  2. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    75
    Its refusal to draw solid lines between "good" and "evil" characters is more sophisticated than the psychology of most current commercial pictures. It's well worth a trek to a theater adventurous enough to show it.
    Read full review
  3. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    100
    Nearly three hours long, and deliberately paced at that, this first feature ever in the Inuit language is a demanding experience. But the rewards for those who risk the journey are simply extraordinary.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »