George Washington

Forget deep allegorical meaning and simple symbolism. 'George Washington' just starts, plays out and then ends in causal fashion, yes, but without any clear plot. It's simply a glimpse, a momentary snapshot, of the lives of a handful of young people in the middle of nowhere. Beautifully shot, amazingly acted and daringly slowly paced. Perhaps the closest you're gonna get to neorealism in modern American cinema?

Quite a remarkable little film. A character study and a coming of age movie and also a portrait of a community, a poetic rendition of a certain time and place that are specific but also universal. It's told in an episodic manner that puts both seemingly minor character interactions and large dramatic events on the same level. Every moment has equal weight, tied together by the understated but very expressive cinematography and musical score. The cast is uniformly excellent.

Best superhero movie ever made.

"It's at once brilliant and inept" wrote Village Voice. I agree. The movie isn't about plot, and in terms of both setting and behavior the movie is completely succesful at giving you a strong sense of authenticity. Still, it should have amounted to something more. I loved the narration and the cinematography, providing transcendent moments, and the acting was very strong; the boy playing Vernon was particularly impressive. A superior debut.

Amazing acting, and a story that leaves you with some serious questions. It is so original that I truly wonder how someone came up with this idea.

Like other coming-of-age indie films from the era, this one gave a new spin on the subgenre. It's obviously influenced by Terrence Malick with its poetic dialogue, landscape cinematography, and dreamy editing. Those aesthetics elevate the A Separate Peace plot into something more artistic. The young performers are amazing, but sadly never caught on in Hollywood. Recommended, although it's hard to believe this is the first film from the director of the Halloween reboot and Pineapple Express.

As thematically rich and brilliantly offbeat as any movie you're likely to see. A combination of Terrence Malick and Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep, infused with a unique and refracted perspective on America and Americana. There's no plot to speak of, existing instead as a series of character moments and incidents which combine to paint a portrait of small-town destitution, coming-of-age, family and friendship, and probably a million other things.

It took me a little bit to get over what I considered to be Malick mimicry, but soon enough I realized what a personal and idiosyncratic achievement this is. There is a sense of nostalgia and tragedy here unlike anything else you'll find in most coming-of-age stories.

Ultimately, the real value of this film is that it can't be summed up from any one perspective. If you like films to "be" something, this isn't for you. If you're happy for the pathos of a film to match the pathos of the life it's portraying, soak this one in.

Maybe I had unfairly high expectations, but I was actually quite disappointed. The film's writing feels very labored and dialog often sounds flat-out ridiculous... it just felt very try-hard and inauthentic. I also have an aversion to characters donning overly goofy outfits and becoming some ever-present visual gag. Still, Green (and Orr) does show some real talent in the way the film is shot and soundtracked, and on the strength of that and some brilliant scenes it manages to work. Sort of.

The editing is a bit rough, but the film's desperate mood paints a very effective portrait of poverty and the seemingly closed world it creates.

What an incredibly sad movie. Sure, the overall story is quite sad, but David Gordon Green includes these small details that really just knock me out. The nuanced performances help, as well.

Neorealism Americana. Great dialogue and stellar acting provides authenticity to this slowly-paced, beautiful shot almost dreamlike slice-of-life-story.

Bad directing, terrible acting, terrible line delivery by almost everyone, unnatural dialogue, boring/shoestring story...the list goes on. How is this so well liked?

Like Harmony Korine meets Terrence Malick; the lives of wayward youth embellished with painterly visuals and poetic narration. It's neither as daring as Korine or as refined and sophisticated as Malick, but there is a definite appeal to this raw, occasionally crude, coming of age story that details the lives of a group of poor kids learning to deal with life's hardship. Green establishes an appropriately reflective, melancholy tone, but there is a naivety to the film that is hard to ignore.

The debt to Malick is a little too pronounced (though the stylistic comparison that leapt immediately to my mind was The New World, so maybe the debt is Malick's!), and the plot is a little too high stakes and feels intrusive at times, but it's beautiful and warm and easy to love, and the actors are all wonderful. Though Green may have done better later, this is a pretty good start.

A fine film that opens with electricity. It's just a fascinating world to be thrust into. When a certain, downbeat, plot point hits, the movie loses its footing and never quite regains it. It's still good, and definitely worth the watch, but I'm not sure if they catalyst moment was ever anything more than a contrivance to extract misery and pathos.

Very moving portrait of a forgotten Southern town and the people who inhabit it. It is geogeously photographed, so sharp in its realistic images that they often appear urrealistic, and this hallucinatory beauty helps us transcend the bleak nature of the story.

This is one of those "important" movies that wields some serious emotional blackmail, i.e., "if you don't like this movie you're dumb/insensitive/racist/a philistine/etc." Actually it's dull and depressing

Lovely, quiet, introspective.

Gorgeously lensed - it looks positively ethereal.

A beautiful and mesmerising film. Green's camera work is just gorgeous & his use of song & sound stunning. Yet despite its sad & even depressing core, this movie still manages on occasions to be uplifting, sometimes darkly comic & once or twice harrowing in its nature. There are some great performances too, particuarly from a talented group of child actors. Faults?.. Not many! But it does romanticise poverty & the eloquent script sometimes seems forced out of the mouths of children. Very good.

Gorgeous, tragic, human, Malickian

gorgeous opening, and initially it seems like it's gonna be a more conventional twist on [killer of sheep] or [gummo] or something, but it ultimately follows a rather uninteresting path, almost devolving into quirky sentimentality at times. some beautiful bits, but underwhelming.

amateurish, sluggish

There were some scenes and images from this film that will stick with me for a long time. My favorite scene was the sadistic uncle's confession, while George sat and placidly listened - What an amazing and disturbing exchange.

This film has some slow moments but overall it has an interesting story. The script contains many real moments. The performances are good in this movie. Overall I would recommend this drama.

beautifully shot, horribly written.

This is the best performance by an ensemble ever. In film history. And I include the ensembles from Streetcar and Network and every other film ever made. Ever. These kids blow them out of the water.

Kids speaking grown-up poetry under the yellow hue of naturalist cinematography, their problems washed away with the soundtrack's drone. The film's ambitions and ways are so lofty, it hardly connects with anything on display on a sane level. Something's off.

The independent version of "Fresh". Great acting. Low budget. Isn't held back by that.

Watching this was such a strange experience, there are a lot of things that happen that seem so strange paired together. Parts both equally beautiful and disturbing. I really like a lot of aspects about each individual character perspective in this film, some aspects of that being minimal but very effective.

This is a pretty odd little film. It doesn't have much in the way of plot, and I could easily see a lot of people being bored by it. However, I found it quite captivating and intriguing for some reason I can't identify. I really liked its use of voiceover. Very quickly I grew to like the characters in the film, and now I feel kind of sad that I won't see them again. It's a simplistic and subtle film which I think is quite rewarding if you give it a chance.

Great imagery.

73.

Look at my tongue!

Token IFC film.

I was too young and not precocious enough to be into movies like this when it came out. I can't right now think about contemporaries to this one, but I do know there have been a lot of 'indie' movies that seem to have just this vibe. Not immediately thinking Malick, but whatever that aesthetics is effectively elevates anything to pure poetry, apparently, which is antithetical to the setting and developments in the plot. Is that an interesting, challenging strategy? Not this time.

A quiet movie that grabs your attention and holds on. I'm not really sure how to classify this film but I'd recommend it.

Delicate, dreamy movie with its own slow rhythms, of inertia punctuated by small bursts of energy.

Unlike so many other films that merely attempt to capture childhood, Green's great early effort is truly spot on. Never flinching from showcasing the problems and harsh realities faced by his characters, the film itself is a satisfying and challenging look at how the fantasies of childhood never really last.

One of the best movies I've ever seen.

I wasn't all that impressed with the emotional high of the movie. All that lens and camerawork does the trick for sure. I was left wondering if any of G.W. will stay with me. Yet again D.G. Green has some potential.

It's not terrible, but it wasn't compelling to me. It's a southern version of Kids/Gummo, but with some elegance that just didn't sweep me on the first viewing.

Há 20 anos estreava no Festival de Berlim. Estupendo longa de estreia do David Gordon Green, pena que ele acabou se perdendo pelo caminho... Tudo soa tão autêntico aqui. BlurayRip RARBG.

Has some great moments but overall just forgettable and not that interesting. DGG goes on to do some great work and you can see semblance of competency here but the story just wasn't that interesting. Would've been a better short imo

Spiritually akin to 1978's "Killer of Sheep" in its warm, idiosyncratic depiction of childhood in poverty. It also focuses more on exploring pockets of intimacy than plot. The script is kept simple but resonant and the cinematography radiates with compassion. A special film.

"George Washington is the closest thing we have to William Faulkner on screen" - Ed Gonzalez

George Washington is a work of humbling, breathtaking beauty.

This film is not decided whether it wants to be an indie social-realist slice-of-life ordeal in the Killer of Sheep vein, or a glossy, harmless little melodrama. And this indecision is unfortunately the case with many nineties-aughties "independent" films meant for worldwide distribution. You tell yourself you're watching a low-key art movie, but it just plays it so safe, it has so much cheap psychology, so many labored, cheesy heart-to-heart convos and so little authenticity and insight.