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POLISSEMovie Reviews
French language drama about the members of a juvenile protection unit, who try to balance the harsh realities of their work with their personal lives. Cast:Karin Viard, Joeystarr, Marina Fois, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Maiwenn, Karole Rocher, Emmanuelle Bercot, Frederic Pierrot, Arnaud Henriet, Naidra Ayadi, Jeremie Elkhaim, Ricardo Scamarcio, Sandrine KiberlainDirector:Maïwenn Le BescoRelease Date:May 18, 2012DVD Release:October 30, 2012From:IFCLength:2 hr 8 min
Polisse played in key cities to very good reviews. • Emanuel Levy wrote for Cinema 24/7, "Ambitious, multi-nuanced, complex, replete of ambiguities of various kinds -- personal, moral, and professional... a movie that always informs and occasionally even provokes." • And Carrie Rickey wrote in the Philadelphia Inquirer, "...the film rewards the patient viewer." More Reviews Below...
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Maïwenn Le Besco finds the humanity within some abhorrent figures, as well as much-needed comic relief and absurdity within some repulsive situations... it's gripping."(See all of Christy Lemire's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 488 words, 05/17/12
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: VERY GOOD(cg) "...can be rambling and glib, yet it's no mere crime drama. It captures a middle-class French society that looks more humane than ours, but is just as messed up."(See all of Owen Gleiberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 120 words, 05/18/12
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Having seen so much evil, the cops are curious about what they haven't seen before. One cop asks for a case, because 'I haven't had one like that.' "(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 609 words, 05/25/12
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (8 Reviews)
A.O. Scott, New York Times: EXCELLENT "...feels less dramatized than witnessed... it illuminates French society with a toughness and fidelity that few other recent movies have dared."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 880 words, 05/18/12
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...for most, 'Polisse' will be tough going.... unblinking naturalism and tight ensemble acting are unsparing and -- though in need of a firmer edit -- often brutally effective."(See all of Elizabeth Weitzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 178 words, 05/18/12
Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times/Chicago Tribune: VERY GOOD "If not every piece of the puzzle delivers its intended impact, the movie as a whole gets under your skin, and the central characters resonate long after the screen goes dark."(See all of Sheri Linden's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 317 words, 05/18/12
V.A. Musetto, New York Post: VERY GOOD(cg) "...powerful, documentary-like... Is it possible for a parent to mistreat a child in the ways shown here? Sad to say, the answer is yes."(See all of V.A. Musetto's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 177 words, 05/18/12
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Having seen so much evil, the cops are curious about what they haven't seen before. One cop asks for a case, because 'I haven't had one like that.' "(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 609 words, 05/25/12
Karina Longworth, Village Voice/LA Weekly: GOOD "...all over the place, but that's not necessarily a bad thing: The strange, unsettling juxtapositions, even when mashing up the mawkish and mockery, are full of life."(See all of Karina Longworth's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 266 words, 05/16/12
KEY CITIES (8 Reviews)
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...messy, boring, funny, suspenseful, touching, jubilant and tragic.... the movie for the most part takes a frank, deadpan tone that serves its complex themes well."(See all of Michael O'Sullivan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 542 words, 05/25/12
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: VERY GOOD(cg) "...an intimate portrait of an idealistic, understaffed, sometimes wrongheaded team battling youth prostitution, thievery rings and adult predators from every class..."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 136 words, 06/29/12
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: OUTSTANDING(cg) "The entire movie is pitched at a scream. But the screaming is more Janis Joplin, Axl Rose, or Mary J. Blige than Jamie Lee Curtis. All the tears I shed were hard-earned."(See all of Wesley Morris's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 971 words, 05/25/12
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: VERY GOOD(cg) "...fascinating... a well-observed study of human behavior in extreme conditions.... The style is documentary-like, in that it feels like life and that anything might happen."(See all of Mick LaSalle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 510 words, 05/25/12
John Hartl, Seattle Times: VERY GOOD(cg) "The shock ending, which may seem to come out of nowhere, will offend many. It also will stimulate discussion. Whatever you think of it, you won't be neutral."(See all of John Hartl's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 313 words, 06/29/12
Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a sprawling, pied, uneven policier about the professional and private lives of the men and women on the Child Protection Unit of the Paris police."(See all of Shawn Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 278 words, 06/01/12
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: VERY GOOD(cg) "...succeeds by shifting the focus from the victims to the vigilant protectors.... draws us uncomfortably close to a taboo subject then rewards us with real nourishment."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 303 words, 06/15/12
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (8 Reviews)
Karina Longworth, Village Voice/LA Weekly: GOOD "...all over the place, but that's not necessarily a bad thing: The strange, unsettling juxtapositions, even when mashing up the mawkish and mockery, are full of life."(See all of Karina Longworth's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 266 words, 05/16/12
Scott Tobias, AV Club: VERY GOOD(cg) "The best moments have a fly-on-the-wall docu-realism that feels eerily like the real thing. In other instances, the opposite is true..."(See all of Scott Tobias's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 389 words, 05/17/12
Jesse Cataldo, Slant: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Tangled amid lives defined by endless bureaucracy and broken relationships, the hope for better things is both a motivator and a constant source of pain..."(See all of Jesse Cataldo's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 834 words, 04/22/12
Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...achieves an impressively realistic level of texture amid constant activity, but at the expense of thematic depth."(See all of Curt Holman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 646 words, 06/15/12
MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher: MODERATE(cg) "There's a whole season's worth of cop angst, child horror, and general soap opera crammed into far too short a running time for everything it hopes to achieve."(See all of MaryAnn Johanson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 369 words, 06/15/12
HIGHBROW PRESS (4 Reviews)
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: EXCELLENT "...astonishing... what makes it such a singular experience is the convergence of fine acting, moral urgency and a willingness to linger on moments of great intensity."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 367 words, 05/18/12
A.O. Scott, New York Times: EXCELLENT "...feels less dramatized than witnessed... it illuminates French society with a toughness and fidelity that few other recent movies have dared."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 880 words, 05/18/12
Mark Jenkins, NPR: EXCELLENT "As humane as it is disturbing... documentary-mimicking drama is designed to evoke the experience of working a beat that can never become routine."(See all of Mark Jenkins's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 585 words, 05/17/12
Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "If not every piece of the puzzle delivers its intended impact, the movie as a whole gets under your skin, and the central characters resonate long after the screen goes dark."(See all of Sheri Linden's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 317 words, 05/18/12
MOVIE INDUSTRY (6 Reviews)
Boyd Van Hoeij, Daily Variety: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...most successful in several impressive individual moments... [but] individual story threads are shortchanged and some narrative inroads barely developed."(See all of Boyd Van Hoeij's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 797 words, 05/12/11
Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood Reporter: VERY GOOD "A powerhouse of emotional jolts, freewheeling comedy, socially-minded storytelling... Like a whole season of 'The Wire' packed into a single two-hour-plus film..."(See all of Jordan Mintzer's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 879 words, 05/12/11
Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "If not every piece of the puzzle delivers its intended impact, the movie as a whole gets under your skin, and the central characters resonate long after the screen goes dark."(See all of Sheri Linden's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 317 words, 05/18/12
Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: EXCELLENT(cg) "Ambitious, multi-nuanced, complex, replete of ambiguities of various kinds -- personal, moral, and professional... a movie that always informs and occasionally even provokes."(See all of Emanuel Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 803 words, 05/16/11
A.O. Scott, New York Times: EXCELLENT "...feels less dramatized than witnessed... it illuminates French society with a toughness and fidelity that few other recent movies have dared."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 880 words, 05/18/12
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: EXCELLENT "...astonishing... what makes it such a singular experience is the convergence of fine acting, moral urgency and a willingness to linger on moments of great intensity."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 367 words, 05/18/12
12.2 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
Polisse's reviews are separated by an average 12.2 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.
Polisse (30 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:Polisse's reviews cover 55.2% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 14,043 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 468 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Reviews Broke 25.3 Hours Before Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
Polisse's reviews on average broke 25.3 hours before 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 Polisse's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
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