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Strange Culture
L5 Productions

Strange Culture reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 70 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
9.0 out of 10
based on 9 reviews
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How did we calculate this?
based on 1 votes
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Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Tilda Swinton, Peter Coyote, Thomas Jay Ryan, Josh Kornbluth, Steve Kurtz, Shoresh Alaudini, and Cassie Powell

The surreal nightmare of internationally-acclaimed artist and professor Steve Kurtz began when his wife Hope died in her sleep of heart failure. Police who responded to Kurtz’s 911 call deemed Kurtz’s art suspicious and called the FBI. Within hours the artist was detained as a suspected "bioterrorist" as dozens of federal agents in Hazmat suits sifted through his work and impounded his computers, manuscripts, books, his cat, and even his wife’s body. Today Kurtz and his long-time collaborator Dr. Robert Ferrell, Professor of Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, await a trial date. (L5 Productions)


GENRE(S): Documentary  
WRITTEN BY: Lynn Hershman-Leeson  
DIRECTED BY: Lynn Hershman-Leeson  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: March 25, 2008 
Theatrical: October 5, 2007 
RUNNING TIME: 75 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: 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...

80
Film Threat Mark Bell
An important heads-up to what is going on in our country right now in the name of national security, and a brilliant statement on artistic freedom and the dangers it faces. This film should be seen, should be discussed and is an important document on our times.
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80
The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
Electrifying and alarming film.
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80
Variety John Anderson
Younger filmmakers should be looking to Hershman Leeson for lessons on how to reinvent old forms while at the same time telling an urgently topical story.
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80
Village Voice Nathan Lee
Slipping in and out of character, variously embodying, studying, and commenting on their counterparts, the actors manage both dramatic reenactment and its deconstruction with aplomb.
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80
The New York Times Jeannette Catsoulis
Somewhere between documentary and dramatization, fact and impression, Strange Culture molds one man’s tragedy into an engrossing narrative experiment that defies categorization.
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70
Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
With a score by the Residents, cartoon art by Warren Heise and Timothy Stock, and scenes of the actors commenting on and interacting with the real-life Kurtz, this 2006 advocacy video brings a jumpy energy to its Orwellian tale.
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70
Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
As sad as it is to realize that youth activism in this country is dead, it's sadder still to find yourself agreeing that they have a point. Just look at what happened to Kurtz.
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70
Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
Lynn Hershman hasn't reached much of an audience, which makes the modest national rollout of her fascinating Strange Culture a noteworthy event.
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50
LA Weekly Ella Taylor
The famously lovely mug of Tilda Swinton (cast as Kurtz’s wife) merely distracts, and I couldn’t help feeling that this potent story would have been far better served by a straight-ahead documentary.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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