The most compelling performance of the year adds substantial depth to this shocking testament to anti-Semitism and neo-fascism.
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06/10/02
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The Believer (2002)
81
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:85
Fresh:69
Rotten:16
Average Rating:7.3/10
Consensus: Gosling commands the screen with a raw, electrifying performance.
Theatrical Release:May 17, 2002 Limited
Box Office: $157,487
Synopsis: Raised Jewish, Danny (Ryan Gosling) now runs with an anti-Semitic skinhead gang in Queens. Attending a meeting held by prominent self-proclaimed fascist Curtis Zampf (Billy Zane), Danny is noticed... [More]
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Summer Phoenix, Billy Zane, Theresa Russell
Director: Henry Bean
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Reviews for The Believer
It's too harsh to work as a piece of storytelling, but as an intellectual exercise -- an unpleasant debate that's been given the drive of a narrative and that's been acted out -- The Believer is nothing less than a provocative piece of work.
07/19/02
Gosling projects a feral intelligence that is riveting...
07/03/03
A somewhat crudely constructed but gripping, questing look at a person so racked with self-loathing, he becomes an enemy to his own race.
07/12/02
A penetrating, potent exploration of sanctimony, self-awareness, self-hatred and self-determination.
06/18/02
Gosling provides an amazing performance that dwarfs everything else in the film.
09/05/02
Like Edward Norton in American History X, Ryan Gosling (Murder By Numbers) delivers a magnetic performance.
11/20/02
Artful, effective and socially redeeming stuff.
01/30/03
A sham construct based on theory, sleight-of-hand, and ill-wrought hypothesis.
06/13/02
Ryan Gosling is, in a word, brilliant as the conflicted Daniel.
05/07/02
Henry Bean's thoughtful screenplay provides no easy answers, but offers a compelling investigation of faith versus intellect
05/04/02
A cinematic sucker punch.
06/01/02
Ryan Gosling gives an amazing performance. It's powerful, disturbing, and terribly tragic. You cannot watch this without being affected by it.
06/14/02
Gosling creates a staggeringly compelling character, a young man whose sharp intellect is at the very root of his contradictory, self-hating, self-destructive ways.
05/25/02
Ryan Gosling ... is at 22 a powerful young actor.
06/14/02
Top CriticLike a pack of dynamite sticks, built for controversy. The film is explosive, but a few of those sticks are wet.
06/28/02
As played by Ryan Gosling, Danny is a frighteningly fascinating contradiction.
07/15/02
Flawed but undeniably provocative and brilliantly acted by Gosling.
05/16/02
An amazing and incendiary movie that dives straight into the rough waters of contradiction.
05/31/02
Top CriticLatest News for The Believer
June 28, 2007:
Ryan Gosling Signs On to Peter Jackson's "Lovely Bones"
The 27-year-old actor will be playing the husband to 36-year-old Rachel Weisz. They'll be playing the parents of a (dead) 14-year-old girl in the Peter Jackson pic. More...
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