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ivans xtc.
Artistic License Films

ivans xtc. reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 67 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
9.2 out of 10
based on 14 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 4 votes
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MPAA RATING: R for sex, nudity and drug use

Starring Danny Huston, Peter Weller, Lisa Enos, Joanne Duckman, Angela Featherstone, Caroleen Feeney, Valeria Golino, and Tiffani-Amber Thiessen

Adapted from Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilyich," this film is set among the wealthy film community of Hollywood.


GENRE(S): Drama  
WRITTEN BY: Lisa Enos
Bernard Rose
Leo Tolstoy (novel The Death of Ivan Ilyich)
 
DIRECTED BY: Bernard Rose  
RELEASE DATE: Theatrical: June 7, 2002 
RUNNING TIME: 93 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: UK / USA 

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...

100
Chicago Reader Ted Shen
Huston's performance is spellbinding. And the naturally lit digital cinematography (by Rose and Ron Forsythe) is both poetic and harrowingly intimate in depicting Ivan's impending death.
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100
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Director Bernard Rose has created a committed, intelligent and fascinating piece of work with no irony about it.
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100
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
A remarkable film.
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75
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The acting is uneven, but Huston's performance gains eerie intensity as the tale moves from sensationalistic melodrama to humanistic tragedy.
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75
Chicago Tribune John Petrakis
This cynical film paints a hugely unflattering portrait of life in Hollywood's fast lane. I have no way of knowing exactly how much is exaggeration, but I've got a creepy feeling that the film is closer to the mark than I want to believe.
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70
LA Weekly Ella Taylor
To the degree that ivans xtc. works, it's thanks to Huston's revelatory performance.
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70
New Times (L.A.) David Ehrenstein
Shot on High Definition video, this exceptionally well-made but exceedingly bleak peek at tinseltown would be unbearable were it not for the sympathetic performance of Danny Huston.
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70
The New York Times Dana Stevens
Contrived as this may sound, Mr. Rose's updating works surprisingly well. -- the story's sympathetic, tragic sense of the fragility of individual dignity is, if anything, made even more haunting in this version.
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60
Village Voice Dennis Lim
Boldly engineering a collision between tawdry B-movie flamboyance and grandiose spiritual anomie, Rose's film, true to its source material, provides a tenacious demonstration of death as the great equalizer.
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60
Variety Todd McCarthy
Achieves a certain poignancy through its sensitivity to mortality in a context where illness and death are often thought of primarily in terms of gossip, blown deals and lost money.
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60
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Its high-definition video images -- are coated with a convincing sheen of disgust, and Huston's performance is riveting.
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50
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
It is both inside-baseball and self-parody, exposing a world that is just as ruthless and shallow as we've been shown it is in films like "The Player" and "Permanent Midnight."
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40
Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
Not enough to save ivansxtc from, of all things, dullness.
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38
New York Post Megan Lehmann
Behind the glitz, Hollywood is sordid and disgusting. Quelle surprise!
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Gilberts gave it a 9:
Rubbish title. Rubbish, RUBBISH, RUB-BISH title. Great movie.

Catriona L. gave it a 10:
One of the best films I have ever seen. Brilliant!

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