It’s a messy film — a few scenes look to be reconstructions, and the lack of any interview with Strel himself is frustrating — but it certainly shows us a colourful part of life’s rich tapestry.
Comment
09/07/09
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Big River Man (2009)
95
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:20
Fresh:19
Rotten:1
Average Rating:7.4/10
Consensus: Big River Man offers uniquely absorbing insight into a larger-than-life eccentric.
Genre: Education/General Interest
Director: John Maringouin
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Reviews for Big River Man
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
The man is a mad obsessive and one is surprised that he hasn't ended up in the exotic trophy room of Werner Herzog, whose films Big River Man resembles.
09/07/09
Entertaining more as a portrait of a slightly unhinged sportsman than the biography of stunt.
09/04/09
If Werner Herzog had made ‘Borat’, the results might have been something like this documentary about the unusual athletic overachiever Martin Strel.
09/04/09
Big River Man is up there with the very best modern documentaries.
09/04/09
There’s something undeniably charming about such an amateurish attempt to establish a world record.
09/04/09
A bizarre, occasionally troubling documentary.
09/04/09
For all the straight-faced self-mockery, it somehow remains a tribute to an exceptional man. Big River Man gets away with its archness only because it’s evident that somewhere beneath its layers of irony, there is a beating heart.
09/04/09
Director John Maringouin has chanced upon documentary gold - Strel is the sort of off-kilter character even the most imaginative fiction writer would have had troiuble dreaming up.
09/04/09
Maringouin artfully meshes music, editing and camerawork to nail the mental deterioration of his taciturn protagonist.
09/04/09
Big River Man is as close to documentary perfection as possible. Tough and vulnerable Strel is masculinity incarnate, and his quest gestures beyond his beloved red wine and beer and towards the mystical. Astonishing.
09/04/09
An engaging, scenically spectacular documentary about one of the world's most extraordinary eccentrics.
09/04/09
We never truly understand what goes on in his mind but all the hazards and heartbreak of his epic swim make for fascinating viewing.
09/04/09
John Maringouin’s documentary about Slovenian Martin Strel’s attempt to swim the Amazon starts like a Borat-style spoof and ends as Fitzcarraldo in Speedos.
09/04/09
There is a general air of contrivance as well as connivance on the part of the filmmakers. Best are the scenes of primitive quetitude that seem to take place outside the perimeters of the film altogether.
09/04/09
This chronicle of his swim is fuzzy and flaky: the implication is that Strel, exhausted and delirious from his efforts, suffered a mental breakdown. His story requires a comparable narrator: one wonders what Werner Herzog might have done with it.
09/04/09
A strange, moving and unforgettable film.
09/04/09
This is one of the most entertaining, riveting docs you'll ever see.
09/04/09
An uncomfortable watch. But it's also darkly funny and paints a fascinating portrait of a man driven to do something very stupid.
09/04/09
Inspiring, funny and dramatic, this green-hued film has a genuine broad appeal.
08/07/09
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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