...more savagery than grace...
Comment
07/25/08
Savage Grace (2008)
42 %
Reviews Counted: 74 Fresh: 31 Rotten:43 Average Rating: 5/10
Consensus:
Though visually compelling, the lamentable characters in Savage Grace make for difficult viewing.
Rated: Not Rated
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins
Theatrical Release: May 28, 2008 Limited
Box Office: $243,055
Synopsis: Like his landmark debut SWOON, Tom Kalin's long-awaited follow-up is based on a shocking true story. This time around, Kalin uses the celebrated nonfiction book by Natalie Robins and Steven M.L. Aronson as his source material in order to revisit one of the 20th century's most notorious... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Julianne Moore, Stephen Dillane, Eddie Redmayne, Elena Anaya, Unax Ugalde
Director: Tom Kalin
Screenwriter: Howard A. Rodman
Producer: Iker Monfort, Katie Rournel, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon
Composer: Fernando Velazquez
Screenwriter: Howard A. Rodman
Producer: Iker Monfort, Katie Rournel, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon
Composer: Fernando Velazquez
Reviews
Click to read the article
07/23/08
Savage Grace is a movie that badly wants to shock you. The only thing that might raise an eyebrow here, however, is the shocking rate at which everyone lights up a cigarette every five minutes.
07/18/08
Ultimately, I felt more sorry for Moore - giving her all to a skeezy, tabloid psychodrama - than for her self-absorbed character.
07/18/08
An appallingly handsome and creepy film entirely suiting the subject matter and repellent and alluring in equal measure. If you relish dishy tales of the depraved rich, it's like Thanksgiving in a movie.
07/11/08
Director Tom Kalin, who's making his second feature after 1992's Swoon, tells the real-life story of the Baekeland family in a subdued whisper, like a servant muttering backstairs about a rich master's failings.
07/11/08
The film boasts another sensational performance by Moore and a welcome return to feature directing by Kalin.
07/08/08
Kalin and Moore have done such a fine job creating this monster, you'll be inclined to forgive them for never quite figuring out what to do with her.
07/06/08
Though the characters may be repellent, the film permits you to feel sympathy.
07/04/08
Top Critic
[Savage Grace] is like a Vanity Fair article; it's eye candy, with ... a creepy dysfunctional family drama thrown in to give it added value.
07/03/08
The decor and costumes are authentic, but there's barely a moment in the picture that feels genuine in human terms.
06/30/08
Kalin makes some smart choices -- knowing the material is perverse enough, he doesn't amp things up with flashy editing or crazy camerawork -- but he doesn't care about these people.
06/27/08
It's a horror story, all right, but the reason for telling it remains unclear, and it seems like a waste of Kalin's evident talent.
06/27/08
Top Critic
Kalin fails to sustain a single tone with his direction or make his vision of the high life as revelatory as it is luxurious. As a director, he's just a tony interior decorator - the swell settings are more seductive than the characters.
06/27/08
Disturbing in the extreme, Savage Grace gives a guided history tour of a family as dysfunctional as they come.
06/27/08
For that particular someone, Savage Grace could be the perfect summer chiller.ca
06/27/08
Top Critic
If ever there was a film to extinguish any envy of the lifestyles of the rich and famous, Savage Grace is it.
06/26/08
Top Critic
Though the film looks elegant, with deceptively simple interiors creating an impression of great wealth, it feels remote. We're impressed by the work the actors are doing, yet the characters don't hold our interest.
06/20/08
More like an awful family's greatest hits than any sort of probing, comprehensive study.
06/19/08
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