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SWEETGRASSMovie Reviews
Documentary about the very last sheep drive up Montana's Beartooth Mountains to summer pasture. Cast:lots of sheepDirector:Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Ilisa BarbashRelease Date:January 6, 2010DVD Release:August 3, 2010From:Cinema GuildLength:1 hr. 41 min.
Sweetgrass played in key cities to excellent reviews. • Ty Burr wrote in the Boston Globe, "...a meditative and intensely beautiful documentary about the last sheep run in Big Timber, Mont.... slow, profoundly observant, in tune with the larger cycles of nature." • And Michael O'Sullivan wrote in the Washington Post, "...a gorgeous and, believe it or not, riveting documentary... about sheep." More Reviews Below...
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: VERY GOOD(cg) "...slyly transcendental... austere enough to make Frederick Wiseman's films look like Jersey Shore episodes, yet it has its own suspense..."(See all of Owen Gleiberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 87 words, 01/22/10
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (10 Reviews)
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "...astonishingly beautiful... a graceful and often moving meditation on a disappearing way of life, there is little here that is objective and much that is magnificent."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 932 words, 01/06/10
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "...intoxicating... done with the kind of restraint that is both the ideal complement to a grand physical setting and a fitting tribute to this disappearing way of life."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 643 words, 03/26/10
V.A. Musetto, New York Post: VERY GOOD(cg) "Lucien Castaing-Taylor's lensing -- from sheep staring into a camera to panoramic views of the gorgeous landscape -- is pleasing to the eye."(See all of V.A. Musetto's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 186 words, 01/06/10
Melissa Anderson, Village Voice/LA Weekly: VERY GOOD "...reminds us of the stupefying magnificence of its setting -- beautiful for spacious skies and mountain majesties -- while never letting us forget its formidable perils..."(See all of Melissa Anderson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 664 words, 01/06/10
Jason Anderson, Toronto Star: OUTSTANDING(cg) "If there's anything we can learn from the creatures here, it's that any day in which you don't get stripped of your coat or eaten by a bear is probably a good one."(See all of Jason Anderson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 515 words, 07/16/10
Stephen Cole, Toronto Globe & Mail: VERY GOOD(cg) "...an anthropological marvel and an animal-drive movie that belongs beside the classics of the genre - 'Red River' and 'Lonesome Dove.' "(See all of Stephen Cole's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 438 words, 07/16/10
Susan G. Cole, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "The animals are, well, sheep, eating, nursing and following along the sometimes not so clear trail.... 'Sweetgrass' is a hypnotically gorgeous thing..."(See all of Susan G. Cole's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 158 words, 07/15/10
KEY CITIES (9 Reviews)
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a gorgeous and, believe it or not, riveting documentary... about sheep.... It's heavy, circle-of-life stuff, and it gives 'Sweetgrass' its rich subtext."(See all of Michael O'Sullivan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 484 words, 05/21/10
Peter Hartlaub, Houston Chronicle/San Francisco Chronicle: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...develops narrative power, and a rough natural humor. You'll be hearing bleating in your sleep for days, which is more pleasant than it sounds."(See all of Peter Hartlaub's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 218 words, 06/11/10
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...tells its story in the visual equivalent of Cormac McCarthy's muscular, stripped-down prose.... the film balances between anthropology and art."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 462 words, 04/16/10
Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a patient, contemplative anthropological experience... unlike anything you'll see in a theater this year. It bravely strays from the flock."(See all of Chris Vognar's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 501 words, 04/23/10
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a meditative and intensely beautiful documentary about the last sheep run in Big Timber, Mont.... slow, profoundly observant, in tune with the larger cycles of nature."(See all of Ty Burr's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 674 words, 04/02/10
Ted Fry, Seattle Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "In the pantheon of films about cowboys and sheep, it's a tossup whether 'Brokeback Mountain' or 'Sweetgrass' is the more beautiful and poignant."(See all of Ted Fry's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 424 words, 03/26/10
Stan Hall, Portland Oregonian: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a gorgeous, epic-sized but peaceful and intimate tribute to a rapidly disappearing way of life. It's stark, matter-of-fact and as fine a work of anthropology as it is art."(See all of Stan Hall's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 92 words, 04/09/10
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: VERY GOOD(cg) "...driven by the beauty of the landscape.... artful images frame the sheep and their keepers within the larger natural order."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 240 words, 06/18/10
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (5 Reviews)
Melissa Anderson, Village Voice/LA Weekly: VERY GOOD "...reminds us of the stupefying magnificence of its setting -- beautiful for spacious skies and mountain majesties -- while never letting us forget its formidable perils..."(See all of Melissa Anderson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 664 words, 01/06/10
Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...an artifact of a dying lifestyle. Perhaps also of an endangered kind of filmmaking, one that embraces reality, that requires viewers to watch and listen and not just consume."(See all of Peter Keough's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 600 words, 04/01/10
Scott Tobias, AV Club: VERY GOOD(cg) "...about the majesty of the landscape and the interplay between these animals, their keepers, and the dictates of nature itself. It's a slice of dying life."(See all of Scott Tobias's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 341 words, 01/07/10
Susan G. Cole, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "The animals are, well, sheep, eating, nursing and following along the sometimes not so clear trail.... 'Sweetgrass' is a hypnotically gorgeous thing..."(See all of Susan G. Cole's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 158 words, 07/15/10
HIGHBROW PRESS (3 Reviews)
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "...astonishingly beautiful... a graceful and often moving meditation on a disappearing way of life, there is little here that is objective and much that is magnificent."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 932 words, 01/06/10
Anthony Lane, New Yorker: VERY GOOD "We already know that farmers don't have a sniff of sentimentality, but it's still bracing to see the sheep breeders in this movie..."(See all of Anthony Lane's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 342 words, 01/04/10
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "...intoxicating... done with the kind of restraint that is both the ideal complement to a grand physical setting and a fitting tribute to this disappearing way of life."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 643 words, 03/26/10
MOVIE INDUSTRY (4 Reviews)
Ronnie Scheib, Daily Variety: OUTSTANDING "...offers a one-of-a-kind experience. Its visuals range from sheep-level closeups to soaring overviews... At once epic-scale and earthbound..."(See all of Ronnie Scheib's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 436 words, 09/26/09
Neil Young, Hollywood Reporter: MODERATE "The directors succeed all too well in evoking the sedentary, unhurried pace of country life: Many shots and sequences drag unproductively and repetitively, on and on."(See all of Neil Young's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 299 words, 02/17/09
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "...intoxicating... done with the kind of restraint that is both the ideal complement to a grand physical setting and a fitting tribute to this disappearing way of life."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 643 words, 03/26/10
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "...astonishingly beautiful... a graceful and often moving meditation on a disappearing way of life, there is little here that is objective and much that is magnificent."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 932 words, 01/06/10
12.4 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
Sweetgrass's reviews are separated by an average 12.4 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.
Sweetgrass (25 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:Sweetgrass's reviews cover 28.4% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 9,596 words involume (average is 20,172 words). Length:The film's reviews average 384 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Reviews Broke 51 Days After Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
Sweetgrass's reviews on average broke 51 days 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 Sweetgrass's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
Sweetgrass (25 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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