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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Following Sean
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 13 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 3 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Documentary
Written by: Ralph Arlyck
Directed by: Ralph Arlyck
Release Date:
Theatrical: January 13, 2006
DVD: March 27, 2007
Running Time: 87 minutes, Color / B/W
Origin: France / USA
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Ralph Arlyck (narrator), and Sean Farrell
Filmmaker Ralph Arlyck first met Sean while living as a graduate student in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury neighborhood at the height of the 1960s. Thirty years, three generations, and a lifetime later, Arlyck has returned to San Francisco in search of who the adult Sean might have become. (Shadow Distribution)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
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...
Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
What promises to be a standard postmortem on 60s ideology becomes a thoughtful essay on the choices we all make between work, family, and personal freedom.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Perhaps Following Sean is as much of a cultural oddity as "Sean" itself turned out to be. But it's a decidedly interesting one nonetheless.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
At its exhilarating best, Following Sean is reminiscent of the lauded British documentaries that began with "7 Up.''
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
If Arlyck's own life feels unworthy of the attention, Sean's illuminating, unconventional and contemporary story makes up for it.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
You won't be disappointed, and you will be deeply, quietly moved.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Sura Wood
Arlyck's artful use of "then and now" images illustrates the relentlessness with which time moves forward. Youth is, indeed, elusive. His seductive film is a retrieval mission and, as such, it is ineffably sad.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Drew Tillman
Arlyck's compulsion is to our great fortune. Patient and elegant, his film is a quietly devastating meditation on family, work, and the unrelenting passage of time.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Nathan Lee
What emerges is a liberal meditation on freedom and compromise, and a nostalgia trip graced by eloquent restraint.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Steven Mikulan
Sean's grandfather was the colorful longshore Communist Archie Brown, and part of the film's charm lies in its evocation of a generational mural that includes old Marxists, flower children and the progeny of red-diaper babies.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Gene Seymour
What emerges from Arlyck's musings is a penetrating cinematic essay on how generations in the last century struggled to take hold of history and reconfigure the shape of daily life.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Janice Page
If ''Sean" was about conviction and revolution, Following Sean is about ambivalence and resignation. In either case it's pretty easy for a funny-provocative kid to stand out.
Read Full Review >New York Post V.A. Musetto
Arlyck spends more time following himself and his own lefty family than checking up on Sean.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.6 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Ravi R. gave it a10:
I know we tend to rate most highly those movies we've seen most recently, but I cannot recommend _Following Sean_ too highly. Engaging, funny, brilliant, simultaneously comforting and uncomfortable, and observant, the movie asks us to confront our own lives' narratives; received wisdom about the 1960s and even more recent American history; the meaning of adulthood, and a thousand other things. It made me think in a way films rarely can -- the way books more often can -- but couldn't possibly give me a headache. And as for technical elements, the editing and narration are perfect, and the granular texture of the film itself complements that of the families' stories. I actually loved _Following Sean_, and came upon this site while looking for information about whether it will ever be released as a DVD. I rarely buy movies, but I'll buy this one.
