How much you're captivated by this film is probably entirely dependent on how successful you find the film's stylistic concept of having actors lip sync the words of its interviewees. I for one was not, unable to understand what truth is gained by taking the real people in a brutal tale of miserable existence and replacing them with more polished, more attractive versions, then drawing attention to it.

THE most depressing episode of creature comforts.

A terribly tragic narrative enhanced by the unique approach of the form. By interspersing the overly dramatic news footage with scenes following actors lip-syncing the voices of the actual participants, the film recaptures the horror of these tragic lives in a quiet, almost subversive way. Further, the illusion of reality created by using actors with real voices significantly points to the illusory qualities of the kind of lives we see portrayed on the screen--people there, but not all there.

If Dunbar blurred the lines between reality and the stage in fictionalizing her life, then Arbor director Clio Bernard is a kindred spirit. The result: highly stylized artifice perversely masquerading as real life. With its players becoming unstuck in time -- they're forced to relive the events yet unable to divert from their tale's inevitable tragic destination -- The Arbor, by its devastating closing sequence, has achieved a singular brew of heady self-awareness and emotional poignancy

**TRUE/FALSE SCREENING**A woeful account of the players surrounding Andrea Dunbar's life and beyond her death unfold in a truly unique manner. Seeming to draw inspiration from "A State Affair" (3rd installment in the Bradford Arbor trilogy of stage acts) Clio Barnard uses recorded interviews and lip synched actors to play out the events recounted. At first the style may addle, but I soon found it both easy, and enjoyable, to follow along. Heartrending yet beautiful, I fully suggest a viewing.

A unique and riveting documentry of an extremely tragic life and legacy.

"A mother-daughter tragedy presented in a cinematic hall of mirrors, The Arbor aestheticizes its grim nonfiction narrative with mixed results." - Bill Weber