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IN A BETTER WORLD (HAEVNEN)Movie Reviews
Danish language drama about a doctor who works in an African war zone and lives in Denmark, contending with a crumbling marriage and a troubled son. Cast:Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm, Ulrich ThomsenDirector:Susanne BierRelease Date:April 1, 2011DVD Release:August 30, 2011From:Sony ClassicsRating:RLength:1 hr. 59 min.
AUGUST 30, 2011
In a Better World (Haevnen), Very Good Reviews, Mixed Key Cities
In a Better World (Haevnen) played in key cities to very good reviews that at the same time were mixed. • Tom Long wrote in the Detroit News, "...heartbreaking and at times harrowing, yet it also manages to never be without wonder. This isn't simply a film worth seeing; this is a film to treasure." • And Scott Tobias wrote for the AV Club, "...the more it expands, the more the gears of the script become visible..." More Reviews Below...
In a Better World (Haevnen) Positive Reviews (40 Reviews, reviews below)
David Germain, Associated Press: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a beautifully performed and meticulously constructed chronicle of two families making the sort of distressing moral choices few of us, thankfully, ever must face."(See all of David Germain's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 496 words, 03/31/11
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: EXCELLENT(cg) "Bier's inviting film asks but doesn't answer: Is the male urge for violence innate? Is it passed from father to son? And if it is, how can we teach our children well?"(See all of Lisa Schwarzbaum's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 138 words, 04/01/11
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "No doubt the film's noble intentions appealed to the academy voters, but this seems to me the weakest of this year's five nominees. What does the title suggest?"(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 568 words, 04/15/11
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (13 Reviews)
A.O. Scott, New York Times: WEAK "...feels just a little too easy: a better movie might have let in more of the messiness of the world as it is. This one falls into cheap manipulation..."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,101 words, 04/01/11
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times/Chicago Tribune: OUTSTANDING "Director Susanne Bier has a potent gift for turning abstract, moral questions into edge-of-your-seat compelling dramas... With this, she has outdone even herself."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 683 words, 04/01/11
Kyle Smith, New York Post: VERY GOOD(cg) "Director Susanne Bier's chilly morality play is slow to get started, but once established, its three parallel stories comment provocatively on one another."(See all of Kyle Smith's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 433 words, 04/01/11
David Edelstein, New York Magazine: WEAK "...an Oprah movie. If I seem unusually derisive, it's because director Susanne Bier has taken an exploitation premise, slowed it to a crawl, and sprinkled in horrific atrocities."(See all of David Edelstein's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 426 words, 03/28/11
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "No doubt the film's noble intentions appealed to the academy voters, but this seems to me the weakest of this year's five nominees. What does the title suggest?"(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 568 words, 04/15/11
Ella Taylor, Village Voice/LA Weekly: POOR "...relentlessly pandering... travelogue photography, transparently expository dialogue, and cheap thrills, drives home spurious parallels between the first and third worlds."(See all of Ella Taylor's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 205 words, 03/30/11
Rick Groen, Toronto Globe & Mail: VERY GOOD(cg) "...out to make a moral point... But since the point is debated with power, directed with purpose and acted with panache, we're drawn deeply into the tale..."(See all of Rick Groen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 801 words, 04/15/11
Susan G. Cole, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT(cg) "...winner of the 2011 Oscar for best foreign-language film.... an intelligent meditation on masculinity, family and accountability."(See all of Susan G. Cole's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 123 words, 04/14/11
KEY CITIES (14 Reviews)
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: VERY GOOD(cg) "...meticulous, elegantly filmed... Methodically paced and superbly staged to create a mounting sense of dread, it plays like a testosterone overdose by slow drip."(See all of Ann Hornaday's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 483 words, 04/08/11
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: VERY GOOD(cg) "...examines the no-man's-land between principle and action, between ethically considered ideal and gut-gratifying revenge.... its Danish title, means 'vengeance.' "(See all of Carrie Rickey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 350 words, 04/15/11
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a most deserving Oscar winner... a film that could provoke discussion anywhere it is shown, anywhere people of any age are being bullied."(See all of Roger Moore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 509 words, 05/04/11
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: VERY GOOD(cg) "...patiently ratchets up the tension while drawing didactic parallels between Third World ethnic reprisals and the escalating feud in Denmark."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 159 words, 04/15/11
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: VERY GOOD(cg) "...earnest, well-made and the 2011 Oscar winner for best foreign-language film. Yet for all that, it's oddly emotionally detached, easier to admire than to become involved in."(See all of Bill Goodykoontz's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 542 words, 04/15/11
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: WEAK(cg) "...swept up in earnest self-importance.... another well-meaning movie that uses Third World atrocity to make life seem nicer everywhere else..."(See all of Wesley Morris's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 762 words, 04/15/11
Stephen Whitty, New Jersey Star-Ledger: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...beautifully acted. Mikael Persbrandt is quickly sympathetic as the good doctor... Markus Rygaard is heartbreaking as the gentle, goofy, horribly picked-upon Elias."(See all of Stephen Whitty's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 498 words, 04/01/11
Clint O'Connor, Cleveland Plain-Dealer: EXCELLENT(cg) "...beautifully shot and features several heartfelt performances.... disturbing at times... Bier wonders whether violence is justifiable or simply inevitable?"(See all of Clint O'Connor's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 358 words, 05/06/11
Christopher Kelly, Seattle Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Just about everything that happens in this movie feels organic. That's partly a credit to the terrific cast.... it might just be the most morally serious soap opera ever made."(See all of Christopher Kelly's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 341 words, 04/29/11
Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...moves dreamily yet with razor-sharp precision... An Oscar nominee for best foreign language film, and completely worthy of the honor."(See all of Shawn Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 171 words, 02/18/11
Tom Long, Detroit News: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...heartbreaking and at times harrowing, yet it also manages to never be without wonder. This isn't simply a film worth seeing; this is a film to treasure."(See all of Tom Long's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 575 words, 05/06/11
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: VERY GOOD(cg) "Susanne Bier knows how to dig her hooks into you.... knows how to get audiences to identify with her seemingly ordinary characters.... spellbinding."(See all of Rene Rodriguez's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 431 words, 03/04/11
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (8 Reviews)
Ella Taylor, Village Voice/LA Weekly: POOR "...relentlessly pandering... travelogue photography, transparently expository dialogue, and cheap thrills, drives home spurious parallels between the first and third worlds."(See all of Ella Taylor's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 205 words, 03/30/11
Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: MODERATE(cg) "...takes the seemingly irresolvable differences between the way the things should be and the way they are and reduces them to the reassuring platitudes..."(See all of Peter Keough's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 218 words, 04/14/11
Scott Tobias, AV Club: MODERATE(cg) "...the more it expands, the more the gears of the script become visible... Bier turns 'In A Better World' into another 'Crash,' a film in service to a tortured thesis."(See all of Scott Tobias's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 391 words, 04/07/11
Ed Gonzalez, Slant: WEAK(cg) "...feels like the work of a deluded colonialist. Bier invites us to cluck our tongues at the horrors afflicting this Kenyan populace before hopscotching to Denmark..."(See all of Ed Gonzalez's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 668 words, 03/27/11
Susan G. Cole, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT(cg) "...winner of the 2011 Oscar for best foreign-language film.... an intelligent meditation on masculinity, family and accountability."(See all of Susan G. Cole's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 123 words, 04/14/11
Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "You can appreciate Bier's wish to end it on a note of reconciliation, but having raised a difficult question over whether violence is necessary, the film fudges its final answer."(See all of Curt Holman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 632 words, 04/20/11
HIGHBROW PRESS (4 Reviews)
A.O. Scott, New York Times: WEAK "...feels just a little too easy: a better movie might have let in more of the messiness of the world as it is. This one falls into cheap manipulation..."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,101 words, 04/01/11
Anthony Lane, New Yorker: GOOD "...what makes the movie work are the boys.... William Johnk Nielsen, in particular, turns the role of Christian into a drama all its own."(See all of Anthony Lane's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 750 words, 03/28/11
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "Director Susanne Bier has a potent gift for turning abstract, moral questions into edge-of-your-seat compelling dramas... With this, she has outdone even herself."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 683 words, 04/01/11
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon: FAIR "...it's like going to someone's house for dinner and having them lecture you about all the local, organic ingredients they used, rather than just letting you eat."(See all of Andrew O'Hehir's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 614 words, 04/01/11
MOVIE INDUSTRY (5 Reviews)
Peter Debruge, Daily Variety: VERY GOOD "...a powerful contempo drama exploring behavioral connections between episodes of schoolyard bullying at home and escalating tribal violence abroad."(See all of Peter Debruge's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 752 words, 09/27/10
Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter: VERY GOOD "...remains bracingly persuasive thanks to director Susanne Bier's typically understated direction and the effectively grounded performances of her convincing cast."(See all of Michael Rechtshaffen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 402 words, 10/15/10
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "Director Susanne Bier has a potent gift for turning abstract, moral questions into edge-of-your-seat compelling dramas... With this, she has outdone even herself."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 683 words, 04/01/11
A.O. Scott, New York Times: WEAK "...feels just a little too easy: a better movie might have let in more of the messiness of the world as it is. This one falls into cheap manipulation..."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,101 words, 04/01/11
22.8 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
In a Better World (Haevnen)'s reviews are separated by an average 22.8 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
In a Better World (Haevnen) (40 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:In a Better World (Haevnen)'s reviews cover 55.1% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 19,113 words involume (average is 20,172 words). Length:The film's reviews average 478 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
In a Better World (Haevnen) Coverage, Volume & Length (40 Reviews, reviews below)
Reviews Broke 6.4 Hours After Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
In a Better World (Haevnen)'s reviews on average broke 6.4 hours after opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is In a Better World (Haevnen)'s opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
In a Better World (Haevnen) (40 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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