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Movies / On DVD / An American Crime
An American Crime

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An American Crime (2007)

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Reviews Counted:13

Fresh:4

Rotten:9

Average Rating:4.4/10

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong and disturbing depiction of child abuse and torture

Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Based on a true story that gripped the nation in 1965, An American Crime recounts one of the most shocking crimes ever committed against a single victim. The daughters of traveling carnival workers... Based on a true story that gripped the nation in 1965, An American Crime recounts one of the most shocking crimes ever committed against a single victim. The daughters of traveling carnival workers are left for an extended stay at the suburban Indiana home of single mother Gertrude Baniszewski and her seven children. Times are tough, and Gertrude's needs force her to accept this arrangement before understanding how the burden will push her already-fragile nature to a breaking point. What transpires is both riveting and horrific, leaving one child dead and the rest scarred for life. Even though a complete reversal of the type of film you expect from him, it becomes clear immediately that An American Crime is a film Tommy O'Haver was destined to make. With profound skill, he controls the complex narrative, the historic period, and a cast of more than a dozen talented child actors. Casting Catherine Keener as Gertrude was his first brilliant idea. With spellbinding clarity, her Gertrude oozes with squelched sexual desire and shifting levels of insanity and evil. She has the uncanny ability to make you empathize even when she encourages the family and neighborhood children to participate in unthinkable activities. The proof? Even though you know the outcome, in a weak moment, you can actually believe her lies.— Sundance Film Festival [More]

Starring: Catherine Keener, Ellen Page, James Franco

Starring: Catherine Keener, Ellen Page, James Franco

Director: Tommy O'Haver

Director: Tommy O'Haver

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Aug 19, 2008

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for An American Crime

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1 - 14 (sorted by date)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
04/29/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed

Um projeto que encara a desgraça alheia como mero trampolim para o entretenimento.

Full Review Source: Cinema em Cena | comment Comment
08/22/08
Pablo Villaca
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena

i katalytika akadimaiki eksistorisi toy, poy problimatizei me tin idiazoysa sadistiki tis hroia stin parathesi sokaristikon skinon bias dihos peraitero diereynisi toys, afinei to myalo soy na kykloforei kai na kanei syndeseis mono toy, me ton idio tropo p

Full Review Source: Movies for the Masses | comment Comment
05/16/08
Joseph Proimakis
Joseph Proimakis
Movies for the Masses

Gut wrenching performances, a well structured narrative, and a great cast makes "An American Crime" one of the finer movies to depict one of the most gruesome travesties of the twentieth century...

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
04/24/08
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed

A misfire and the most problematic film at Sundance, this fact-based tale of child abuse is disturbing, appalling, and voyeuristic due to poor conception and execution by writer-director O'Haver who ironically has been wanting to make it for 20 years.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
03/22/07
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
02/19/07
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com

What purpose does this film serve? I have watched it, and I have contemplated it, and I can come up with no good reason for it to exist.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment 2 Comments
02/18/07
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
eFilmCritic.com

(Catherine) Keener, always a versatile actress, takes on the challenge of portraying perhaps one of the most unlikable villains in the history of true crime, and tries to find the humanity buried somewhere within her.

Full Review Source: Cinematical | comment Comment
02/09/07
Kim Voynar
Kim Voynar
Cinematical

The real high point of this film is Catherine Keener's captivating performance in the role of the troubled and possessive Gertie, vacillating between disturbingly abusive and imploringly sympathetic the way only a truly manipulative psychopath really can.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
01/27/07
Sally Foster
Sally Foster
Film Threat

Tragic tale of child abuse fails to make any sense of the crime.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment 1 Comment
01/25/07
Kirk Honeycutt
Kirk Honeycutt
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Something like watching a train wreck, An American Crime is both morbidly riveting and psychologically sickening -- definitely not a film for the weak of heart.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
01/25/07
Sally Foster
Sally Foster
Film Threat

Poorly conceived and helmed, O'Haver's fact-based drama of the horrific 1965 child abuse, is an excruciating experiece of watching violence onscreen witout any illuminating angle or insight; Catherine Keener gives her most problematic performance to date

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment 4 Comments
01/22/07
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Tragic tale of child abuse fails to make any sense of the crime.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
01/19/07
Kirk Honeycutt
Kirk Honeycutt
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Not even the considerable talents of lead thesps Catherine Keener and Ellen Page can alleviate the artistic nullity that is An American Crime.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
01/18/07
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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Latest News for An American Crime

January 30, 2007: Rob Zombie Announces New Laurie Strode Casting...Via MySpace!
Ah, MySpace. Electronic land of underage networking, life-affirming friend counts, and...major motion picture casting announcements? More...

January 21, 2007: Sundance Reviews: "American Crime" Is Painful, "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib" Is Haunting
Here are some short reviews of "An American Crime," starring Catherine Keener and Ellen Page, and the Iraq war doc, "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib," both of which... More...

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