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The Cove

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The Cove (2009)

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Reviews Counted:107

Fresh:102

Rotten:5

Average Rating:8/10

Consensus: Though decidedly one-sided, The Cove is an impeccably crafted, suspenseful expose of the covert slaughter of dolphins in Japan.

Rated: Not Rated

Genre: Education/General Interest

Theatrical Release:Jul 31, 2009 Limited

Box Office: $619,467

Synopsis: The Cove is an astounding piece of investigative journalism with the heart of an action thriller. Led by Louie Psihoyos, leader of the Ocean Preservation Society, and Richard O'Barry, an... The Cove is an astounding piece of investigative journalism with the heart of an action thriller. Led by Louie Psihoyos, leader of the Ocean Preservation Society, and Richard O'Barry, an internationally recognized authority on dolphin training who is best known for his work on the 1960's TV show Flipper, the film follows a high-tech dive team on a mission to discover the truth about the international dolphin capture trade as practiced in Taji, Japan. Utilizing state-of-the-art techniques, including hidden microphones and cameras, the team uncovers how this small seaside village serves as a horrifying microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide.

The Cove is also directed by Louie Psihoyos, who brings confidence and precision to his insider's account of this life-or-death covert operation. A celebrated photographer who has created images for National Geographic for 18 years, Psihoyos captures the magnificence of the dolphins themselves and the ocean that surrounds them. --© Roadside Attractions [More]

Director: Louie Psihoyos

Director: Louie Psihoyos
Screenwriter: Mark Monroe
Producer: Paula Dupre Pesmen, Fisher Stevens
Composer: J. Ralph
Studio: Lions Gate Films

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Release:

Dec 8, 2009

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

  • Region [unknown]
 
 
 
 

Reviews for The Cove

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Restrained and harrowing.

Full Review Source: Sunday Times (UK) | comment Comment
10/30/09
Edward Porter
Edward Porter
Sunday Times (UK)

This outstanding documentary is as exciting as a thriller.

Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment Comment
10/30/09
Philip French
Philip French
Observer [UK]

This documentary is also as well made as anything released all year, blending hard facts, cold scientific reason plus the thrills of a Hollywood spy movie to terrific effect.

Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | comment Comment
10/30/09
David Edwards
David Edwards
Daily Mirror [UK]

This film virtually creates a new genre: the horror doc. It's a gripping and compelling film about something utterly unthinkable.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
10/28/09
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

A taut, thrilling documentary that plays out like a heist movie while never overshadowing its message or activist credentials.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
10/23/09
Philip Wilding
Philip Wilding
Empire Magazine

There’s an effective thriller element to this vividly assembled doc.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
10/23/09
Trevor Johnston
Trevor Johnston
Time Out

The Cove stands out from the crowd due to the readily apparent awfulness of the event it depicts.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
10/23/09
Richard Luck
Richard Luck
Channel 4 Film

The great strength of this documentary about the covert killing of wild dolphins in Japan is its aesthetic: artful edits, zippy music, even a few jokes. Radical stuff for an eco-documentary.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
10/23/09
Catherine Shoard
Catherine Shoard
Guardian [UK]

A gripping, powerful and heart-wrenching expose ... activist filmmaking at its best.

Full Review Source: Times-Picayune | comment Comment
10/23/09
Mike Scott
Mike Scott
Times-Picayune

One would imagine, and hope, that an Oscar nomination beckons.

Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
10/23/09
Derek Malcolm
Derek Malcolm
This is London

Facts, stats and grim archive footage help build up a convincing if one-sided case, but it is the film’s revelatory covert recording that encapsulates the true power of documentary cinema.

Full Review Source: Little White Lies | comment Comment
10/23/09
Adam Woodward
Adam Woodward
Little White Lies

If The Cove isn’t in the running for next year’s Best Doc Oscar, there’s something terribly wrong with this world. Gripping exposé, harrowing horror-thriller and devastating agitprop, it takes us to “a little town with a big secret”.

Full Review Source: Total Film | comment Comment
10/23/09
Jonathan Crocker
Jonathan Crocker
Total Film

In this new, post-Michael Moore age of documentary filmmaking as lucrative big-screen fare, a documentary that educates without condescension, informs without bias and entertains without losing its focus is a valuable commodity.

Full Review Source: Filmstar Magazine | comment Comment
10/23/09
Nikki Baughan
Nikki Baughan
Filmstar Magazine

Part-espionage thriller, part-documentary.

Full Review Source: Sun Online | comment Comment
10/23/09
Sun Online

An involving and persuasive film that remains frustratingly one-sided as it bandies about unsubstantiated accusations, fails to follow up on key issues and leaves you wanting to know much more.

Full Review Source: Daily Express | comment Comment
10/23/09
Allan Hunter
Allan Hunter
Daily Express

A powerful, important and extremely well made documentary that demands to be seen.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
10/23/09
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

[An] impassioned piece of agit-prop, which goes to great lengths to penetrate Taiji's tight security to expose this problem in gruesome detail.

Full Review Source: Scotsman | comment Comment
10/23/09
Alistair Harkness
Alistair Harkness
Scotsman

It turns out that wasn't a smile on Flipper's face.

Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | comment Comment
10/08/09
Meg Jones
Meg Jones
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Tells you with its heart all you want to know about why it's necessary to free the dolphins from captivity and slaughter.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
09/06/09
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Part thriller, part natural history lesson.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | comment Comment
09/04/09
Robert W. Butler
Robert W. Butler
Kansas City Star
 
 
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