X
  • 2017
  • Kino Lorber
  • 2 h
  • 2017
  • Kino Lorber
  • 2 h

Summary This meditation on cinema’s past from Decasia director Bill Morrison pieces together the bizarre true history of a long-lost collection of 533 nitrate film prints from the early 1900s. Located just south of the Arctic Circle, Dawson City was settled in 1896 and became the center of the Canadian Gold Rush that brought 100,000 prospectors ...

Directed By: Bill Morrison

Written By: Bill Morrison

  • 2017
  • Kino Lorber
  • 2 h
  • 2017
  • Kino Lorber
  • 2 h

Dawson City: Frozen Time

Metascore Universal Acclaim Based on 14 Critic Reviews
86
User Score Generally Favorable Based on 10 User Ratings
6.1
My Score
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Where to Watch

Summary This meditation on cinema’s past from Decasia director Bill Morrison pieces together the bizarre true history of a long-lost collection of 533 nitrate film prints from the early 1900s. Located just south of the Arctic Circle, Dawson City was settled in 1896 and became the center of the Canadian Gold Rush that brought 100,000 prospectors ...

Directed By: Bill Morrison

Written By: Bill Morrison

Where to Watch

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Universal Acclaim Based on 14 Critic Reviews
86
100% Positive
14 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Universal Acclaim Based on 14 Critic Reviews
86
100% Positive
14 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
100
Jul 4, 2017
The film locates extraordinary political and cultural tributaries, marked by archival footage, that arise from the history of Dawson City and the gold rush.
By Richard Brody FULL REVIEW
100
Jun 8, 2017
It’s an orgy for film geeks and history jonesers, to be sure, and the revelation of how exactly the prints got waylaid and then buried in the permafrost, saved by virtue of Dawson City’s fading away in the twentieth century, proves a sweet narrative reward.
By Michael Atkinson FULL REVIEW
91
Jul 4, 2017
Morrison proves that there is no better way to tell the story of movies than with movies, and it seems almost spooky how the Dawson City reels supplied him with the material he needed.
By Jose Solís FULL REVIEW
88
Jun 6, 2017
Throughout, direcgor Bill Morrison mixes documentarian detail with an ecstatic sense of poetry.
By Chuck Bowen FULL REVIEW
75
Jul 12, 2017
The music links it all together, creating the sense of some overarching, unseen logic connecting all human activity and making everything inevitable. Indeed, it’s that last impression that elevates Dawson City: Frozen Time to the level of poetry. The story of the town is interesting, without being scintillating.
By Mick LaSalle FULL REVIEW
70
Jul 4, 2017
The remarkable thing is that the movie acquires the quality of a time machine. You don’t just watch “Dawson City.” You step into it to and draw back a magical curtain on the past, entering a world of buried memory that’s the precursor to our own.
By Owen Gleiberman FULL REVIEW
67
Jun 7, 2017
It’s much more involving as a work of pure and hypnotic collage than as a researched narrative of facts, dates, and names.
By Ignatiy Vishnevetsky FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 10 User Ratings
6.1
40% Positive
4 Ratings
40% Mixed
4 Ratings
20% Negative
2 Ratings

User Reviews

 View All
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 10 User Ratings
6.1
40% Positive
4 Ratings
40% Mixed
4 Ratings
20% Negative
2 Ratings

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

Details

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Production Company Hypnotic Pictures, Picture Palace Pictures
Release Date Jun 9, 2017
Duration 2 h
Genres
Tagline The bizarre true history of a lost silent film collection, lost for over 50 years until being discovered buried in a sub-arctic swimming pool deep in the Yukon Territory.
View All Details

Awards

Critics' Choice Documentary Awards
• 1 Win & 3 Nominations
Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations

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