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Zoo
THINKFilm


5.2

based on 20 reviews
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How did we calculate this?

based on 4 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring John Paulsen, Ken Kreps, Richard Carmen, James Chu, Paul Eenhoorn, Forest Fousel, Conor Gormally, and Malayka Gormally

Zoo is an extraordinary glimpse into the life of a seemingly normal Seattle man whose secret sexual appetites led to his shocking death. (ThinkFilm)

GENRE(S):	Documentary \| Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Robinson Devor Charles Mudede
DIRECTED BY:	Robinson Devor
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: September 18, 2007 Theatrical: April 25, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	80 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

Nominated, Grand Jury Prize (Documentary), 2007 Sundance Film Festival

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

TV Guide Ken Fox

Bold and unforgettable meditation on a truly bizarre incident that pokes at the very heart of one of our culture's biggest taboos.

Variety Scott Foundas

A breathtakingly original nonfiction work by Seattle-based filmmaker Robinson Devor (whose "Police Beat" was among the highlights of Sundance's 2005 dramatic competition).

Village Voice Nathan Lee

The beautiful and beguiling new film by Robinson Devor meditates on the Enumclaw incident through a hypnotic blend of original reporting, staged reenactment, testimony of involved parties (both zoophiles and local law enforcement), and pervasive, somewhat precious lyricism.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

The result is an immersive experience that never forgets the basic facts of the story but attempts with a level head and open mind to understand how in the world it might happen.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Whether meaning to or not, Devor and his accomplished crew expand our concept of the documentary film, which relegates this documentary to art houses, not porn theaters.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Gianni Truzzi

The surprise of this locally produced, stylized documentary is that it could leave you wishing it had told a little bit more.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Devor's sympathy for both the men and the animals is humane, yet his movie is palpably sad. A sense of shame cuts through all the ambiguity. You know less about what you've watched when Zoo is over than you did when it started. And that's what makes the movie so hard to shake.

San Francisco Chronicle Neva Chonin

Compelling.

Slate Dana Stevens

It would have been easy to focus on the eroticism of horses, who, let's face it, are beautiful creatures to look at even for the nonzoophilically inclined, but Devor shows the animals only sparingly. For him, what's most interesting is what the horses represent to the men who (gulp) love them: the wildness and purity of nature itself.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Zoo is a cool sensibility married to a hot topic, a poetic film about a forbidden, unsettling subject. Elegantly made and eerily lyrical, it deals with what director Robinson Devor has accurately called "the last taboo, the boundary of something comprehensible."

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Quiet, sensitive, resolutely unsensational documentary about virtually the most sensational subject you can imagine.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

To what degree does Zoo test our limits of tolerance? In the end, not much, which is why Devor's strange, carefully composed objet d'art is a limited achievement.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Devor doesn't endorse horse-on-man sex, but he does attempt--with sympathy--to account for the appeal.

Newsweek David Ansen

Zoo avoids any taint of exploitation, but it errs on the opposite extreme. I came away from it wanting a little less Art and a lot more simple reportage.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Paradoxically, it is precisely because Mr. Devor refuses to acknowledge the murkiness that clings to every frame in his film, because he refuses to engage with the world beyond that of the zoophiles, that they seem like creatures from some never-ending night.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

Constructing the narrative (made up mostly of dramatic reenactments, although given the static nature of many of the scenes, the word "dramatic" is pushing it) obliquely, Devor and co-writer Charles Mudede weave in the thread concerning the individual referred to as "Mr. Hands" into the film almost casually.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

You could wander into this poetic documentary willing to be sympathetic toward its subject -- men who have sex with horses -- and still find Zoo cryptic and borderline bogus.

Chicago Reader Staff (Not credited)

Interviewees are too busy excusing themselves to offer much illumination into their desires, and Devor's moody style (silhouettes, reenactments, an ominously throbbing score) only heightens the sleazy Dateline NBC feel.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Time and again, Devor sabotages his own attempt to bring "zoos," literally and figuratively, into the light.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

A bizarre quasi-documentary that more or less tries to rationalize bestiality as a harmless quirk.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.2 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mr Hands gave it a10:
Take a walk on the wild side. Don't you want to know how a father, and successful engineer for Boeing, could end up dying by receiving anal sex from a horse? I've heard of people having sex with animals before and I always assumed that they were under the influence of alcohol and or drugs, or they were insane. It's interesting to hear people, who are apparently able to blend in with society, try to rationalize how they can have a sexual relationship with an animal. Furthermore, the incident that this film focuses on involves a man (Mr. Hands, the engineer) who allowed himself to be mounted by a horse. It's not a case of some randy drunk who rapes a dog; thats a different situation. These "zoo" people seem to have a genuine love for their animals and insist that they do not force the animals to participate. Thats not hard to imagine, as many people have had a dog ride their leg. If you allow a dog to ride your leg, is that bestiality? Are you abusing the dog? FYI ,I don't know, I don't own a dog or a horse, and I love my cat, but I can't imagine a sexual attraction to any animal. If you follow some religion, the issue might be clear to you - it's just forbidden by your god. But for those of us who are willing to examine human behavior from a more objective standpoint, this film will raise interesting questions about the nature of love.

August G. gave it a5:
I lived in Enumclaw when this happened. Everyone was surprised, but no one was sympathetic. These people are sick and need help. IT became a joke for a while- hey, i went to Enumclaw to ride a horse the other day.

j gave it a0:
Disgusting! whoever made this movie should be killed.

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Zoo THINKFilm

Zoo
THINKFilm