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WHITE MATERIALMovie Reviews
French language drama about a French woman holding on tenaciously to her family's coffee plantation in Africa as the country descends into violent civil conflict. Cast:Isabelle Huppert, Isaach de Bankolé, Daniel Tchangang, Christopher Lambert, William Nadylam, Nicolas DuvauchelleDirector:Claire DenisRelease Date:November 19, 2010DVD Release:December 7, 2010From:IFCLength:1 hr. 46 min.
White Material played in key cities to sensational reviews. • Jeff Farr wrote for Cinema 24/7, "French director Claire Denis at the top of her game... ferocious filmmaking." • And Michael Phillips wrote in the Chicago Tribune, "...minor Denis is well worth seeing, here for reasons that start, and end, with the stoic magnificence of her chief camera subject, Isabelle Huppert." More Reviews Below...
White Material Positive Reviews (28 Reviews, reviews below)
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...an intense, mysterious drama... Isabelle Huppert's is a naked, mesmerizing performance in perfect sync with director Claire Denis' prowling style."(See all of Lisa Schwarzbaum's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 68 words, 11/19/10
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (8 Reviews)
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "...powerful, agonized... filled with images that sometimes reveal their full meaning only when their beauty curdles in the chain of signification... terror creeps through this film quietly..."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,084 words, 11/19/10
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "...an altogether stunning work.... Isabelle Huppert in a bravura performance.... this is filmmaking that is at once exhilarating and chilling, powerful and powerfully disturbing."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 665 words, 11/26/10
V.A. Musetto, New York Post: VERY GOOD(cg) "...unites France's most precious actress, Isabelle Huppert, with one of that nation's leading directors, Claire Denis. The result is as impressive as one would expect."(See all of V.A. Musetto's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 215 words, 11/19/10
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: VERY GOOD(cg) "...minor Denis is well worth seeing, here for reasons that start, and end, with the stoic magnificence of her chief camera subject, Isabelle Huppert."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 415 words, 11/19/10
J. Hoberman, Village Voice/LA Weekly: OUTSTANDING "Claire Denis's strongest movie in the decade since 'Beau Travail'... tense, convulsive... a portrait of change and a thing of terrible beauty."(See all of J. Hoberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 644 words, 11/17/10
KEY CITIES (11 Reviews)
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: VERY GOOD(cg) "With the sparest of storytelling, French filmmaker Claire Denis devours her audience, swallowing us up in a yarn that is as enigmatic as it is engrossing."(See all of Michael O'Sullivan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 401 words, 11/26/10
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...captures the stark beauty of the landscape, and the dreamlike horror of the violence at hand.... A mournful, frightening, powerful film."(See all of Steven Rea's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 258 words, 12/10/10
Cary Darling, Dallas Morning News: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...a thoughtful, if sometimes frustrating, tale... Huppert shows slow-burn intensity that gives the film a solid center."(See all of Cary Darling's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 298 words, 01/14/11
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: VERY GOOD(cg) "Denis' shots of African landscapes are beautifully composed, and yet even they seem to contain a threat, suggesting something hiding within that beauty..."(See all of Mick LaSalle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 379 words, 11/26/10
John Hartl, Seattle Times: VERY GOOD(cg) "...as gripping and gorgeous as 'Chocolat,' even though, as the title suggests, its view of colonialism is borderline-contemptuous."(See all of John Hartl's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 408 words, 12/10/10
Stan Hall, Portland Oregonian: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...somewhat elliptical but also thoroughly engrossing and propulsive. Compared to Denis' earlier work, it's practically an action movie.... This is an uncommonly fine film."(See all of Stan Hall's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 253 words, 12/17/10
Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...works both as an intriguing character study and as a portrait of paradise lost.... unhurried in its storytelling but unshakable in its impact."(See all of Calvin Wilson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 326 words, 01/28/11
Tom Long, Detroit News: FAIR(cg) "Claire Denis is superb at telling details and tone... But she's not big on story logic... A few questions can be intriguing; too many questions can be distracting."(See all of Tom Long's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 302 words, 12/17/10
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a poignant, haunting study of well-intentioned but doomed folly, embodied by a heroine whose bravery renders her blind to the world that is crumbling around her."(See all of Rene Rodriguez's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 526 words, 01/07/11
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (5 Reviews)
J. Hoberman, Village Voice/LA Weekly: OUTSTANDING "Claire Denis's strongest movie in the decade since 'Beau Travail'... tense, convulsive... a portrait of change and a thing of terrible beauty."(See all of J. Hoberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 644 words, 11/17/10
Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: VERY GOOD(cg) "Denis builds tension, pathos, and irony (it's more like a traditional horror story than her creepy 2001 vampire film, 'Trouble Every Day')..."(See all of Peter Keough's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 131 words, 11/25/10
Scott Tobias, AV Club: EXCELLENT(cg) "The chief pleasure of Claire Denis' work is that it's incomplete, at least in the sense that the audience has to be engaged in completing it.... assembles the big picture from a series of tiny moments..."(See all of Scott Tobias's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 346 words, 11/18/10
Fernando F. Croce, Slant: VERY GOOD(cg) "...ethereal, elliptical, sinewy filmmaking.... strikes the senses as much as the director's great films, but its lack of mystery ultimately keeps it from lingering like them."(See all of Fernando F. Croce's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 425 words, 10/11/09
HIGHBROW PRESS (4 Reviews)
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: OUTSTANDING "...lean and shattering... a portrait, by turns chilling, thrilling, mysterious and terrifying, of a woman who refuses to be terrorized."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 368 words, 11/26/10
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "...powerful, agonized... filled with images that sometimes reveal their full meaning only when their beauty curdles in the chain of signification... terror creeps through this film quietly..."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,084 words, 11/19/10
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "...an altogether stunning work.... Isabelle Huppert in a bravura performance.... this is filmmaking that is at once exhilarating and chilling, powerful and powerfully disturbing."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 665 words, 11/26/10
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon: OUTSTANDING "...disorientingly beautiful... promises that human madness and human love will balance each other out, in the fullness of time. No director has ever gotten more out of Isabelle Huppert..."(See all of Andrew O'Hehir's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,088 words, 11/18/10
Sura Wood, Hollywood Reporter: OUTSTANDING "...taut, unforgettable... Denis is helped immeasurably by an astringent, fully committed performance from her leading lady..."(See all of Sura Wood's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 629 words, 05/29/10
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "...an altogether stunning work.... Isabelle Huppert in a bravura performance.... this is filmmaking that is at once exhilarating and chilling, powerful and powerfully disturbing."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 665 words, 11/26/10
Jeff Farr, Cinema 24/7: OUTSTANDING(cg) "French director Claire Denis at the top of her game... a wily narrative and character study... an uncompromising political statement about Africa... ferocious filmmaking."(See all of Jeff Farr's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,047 words, 07/22/10
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "...powerful, agonized... filled with images that sometimes reveal their full meaning only when their beauty curdles in the chain of signification... terror creeps through this film quietly..."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,084 words, 11/19/10
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: OUTSTANDING "...lean and shattering... a portrait, by turns chilling, thrilling, mysterious and terrifying, of a woman who refuses to be terrorized."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 368 words, 11/26/10
14.6 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
White Material's reviews are separated by an average 14.6 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.
White Material (28 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:White Material's reviews cover 34.8% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 13,303 words involume (average is 20,172 words). Length:The film's reviews average 475 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
White Material Coverage, Volume & Length (28 Reviews, reviews below)
Reviews Broke 7 Days Before Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
White Material's reviews on average broke 7 days 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 White Material's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
White Material (28 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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