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Judicial Joe
25Apr12
A reasonably engaging documentary that makes me wonder if the reason Godard hates Malle's films is because, in films like this and ATLANTIC CITY, Malle has a far more humanistic view of Americans than in any film by Godard.
Jeremiah Hammerling
30Nov11
Without a doubt, the lawnmower scene is worth the entire film. With the sincerely fond and curious eye of a total outsider, Malle descends on Glencoe, MN and manages to capture a slice of life with surprising intimacy.
StellaWasaDiver likes this
Miasma
15Apr11
I grew up not far from places quite like Glencoe and don't feel the perverse wonder most people would get just from simply encountering it... The film would've been considerably more impactful if much more time would've been spent viewing how much the town had changed. But there seems to be no real through-line to the film...
Malkin
23Feb11
Malle paints a portrait of the nostalgic "old way" - the muted expectations, the contentment in gentle community and piety, all the humble concession to life's waves - and laments the way it faded, replaced by our contemporary obsession with greed. This is the sad and quiet beginning of the perversion of the American Dream, reaching into even the sleepiest and friendliest corners of the country. A very beautiful film
Suzanne Gagnon
17Jun09
Vanya on 42nd street is one of my all time favorite movies. Acting at its purest form.
Justin Kane
6Jun09
If someone made a documentary about the town I grew up in it wouldn't be that dissimilar to this film. Secondly I wish I could have been friends with Louis Malle, his lens is always compassionately transfixed on the right people not to mention timelessly relevant, a true sociologist.
Dave Rotenberg
3Apr09
This movie, to me, is what documentary film should be all about. Malle offered a complete picture of one town at two certain points in time - without commenting on what he was witnessing.
paul wackers
8Jan09
wow if this doesn't still ring true i don't know what does. progress for what we may leave to much behind a beautiful portrait of america.
Aaron B. Smith
4Jan09
Beautiful. Poignant. Moving. If you have know people and places like the ones in this film, you will know the Malle got it right.
Miranda Patton
20Dec08
I wonder if this film would even be possible these days. It is very resonant, but the people in this film were so real and gracious. I think people now in the era of reality television wouldn't know how to be real. If I were making a film like this, I would suspect that most people that I came across were just acting for me and hamming it up for their 15 minutes.
Ana Ruediger
13Dec08
It takes a fine director like Malle to make a documentary about America that somehow does not exploit its subjects. The discussion about the 1985 government's "obsession with greed" seemed to ring a bell with our current situation in America. Perhaps history repeats itself.
Adam Downey
11Dec08
The before & after conversations with the young farmer & his family are fascinating.
Jay a.k.a. 6FOOT
10Dec08
A very touching, raw documentary. Another masterpiece by one of my favorite directors.
