Disappearances (2006)
Average Rating: 6/10
Reviews Counted: 21
Fresh: 11 | Rotten: 10
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 6/10
Critic Reviews: 14
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 6
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 2.9/5
User Ratings: 27,213
My Rating
Movie Info
Longtime actor/songwriter Kris Kristofferson stars as a whiskey-smuggling schemer desperate to preserve his endangered cattle herd in director Jay Craven's adaptation of Howard Frank Mosher's best-selling novel. The year is 1932; Prohibition is still in place, and smuggling whiskey has long been a profitable tradition in the Bonhomme family. When the coming winter threatens to decimate Quebec Bill Bonhomme's (Kristofferson) cattle heard and render his family destitute, the desperate dreamer and
May 11, 2007 Wide
Jul 3, 2007
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Kris Kristofferson
Quebec Bill Bonhomme -
Lothaire Bluteau
Carcajou -
Gary Farmer
Henry Coville -
William Sanderson
Rat Kinneson -
Charlie McDermott
Wild Bill Bonhomme -
Geneviève Bujold
Cordelia -
Heather Rae
Evangeline -
Luis Guzman
Brother St. Hillaire -
-
ADVERTISEMENT
All Critics (22) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (11) | Rotten (10) | DVD (2)
A marvelous, subtly crafted elegy to a bygone era that balances its scenes of violence and gunplay with laconic humor.
Top CriticMagic realism is a tricky thing to pull off in a movie, and Disappearances, the third of Mr. Craven's films based on Mr. Mosher's novels, only occasionally succeeds.
The beautifully photographed Disappearances is solidly old-fashioned entertainment.
The film is lovely to look at, but makes not a lick of sense.
If you're one of those people (like this reviewer) who can watch Kris Kristofferson do just about anything, you won't insist on the references being that solid.
Alas, the story descends into mystical mumbo jumbo.
It's an ambitious work and shouldn't be too readily dismissed for its semi-successful foray into spirit-land. There is much else to enjoy and a wonderful terrain to discover.
There's a special Boy Scout charm to it all that I was enchanted with.
The movie has a literary quality, and not just because everyone's always quoting Shakespeare.
Labored, a bit of backwoods magical realism that wants to soar but never takes off.
Craven never quite manages to make it all seem a smoothly integrated piece.
Craven layers the film's central narrative concerns with mounds of metaphorical gunk, most of which proves more ponderous than entrancing.
The story might sound fine on paper, but it didn't quite work out that well when filmed.
Audience Reviews for Disappearances
Super Reviewer
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for Disappearances yet.
What's Hot On RT
The Last Stand, Side Effects
Trailer for new Coen Bros movie
Rachel McAdams' time travel romantic drama
Blockbusters ranked!
Featured on RT
- See the Best-Reviewed in Summer Movie Scorecard 2013 0
- RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: The Last Stand and Side Effects 12
- Digital Multiplex: Warm Bodies and Aftershock 0
- Box Office Guru Wrapup: Star Trek Softer Than Expected at #1 85
- Weekly Ketchup: Will Smith to Star in Wild Bunch Remake? 39
- Critics Consensus: Star Trek Into Darkness is Certified Fresh 106
- Red Carpet Roundup: Star Trek Into Darkness Edition 0
Top Headlines
-
Which Film Franchise Has Been the Best for Female Characters?
0
-
Damon Lindelof Talks Tomorrowland
0
-
10 Movies About Really Fast Cars
0
-
Poltergeist Remake Synopsis Hints at Plot Differences
1
-
Kristen Wiig Says Welcome to Me
0
-
David Fincher's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Gets Bumped
0
-
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance Remake in the Works
0
Fresh Links
Featured
Star Trek Movies Ranked
HitFix offers their own take on the worst-to-best of the Enterprise crew's cinematic adventures.
Top 10 Star Trek Villains
Rolling Stone unveils the Enterprise's most irksome adversaries.
Celebrity Yearkbook Flashback
We'll bet you never realized how many stars were cheerleaders and high school athletes!
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Weirdest Movie Siblings
From Twins to The Royal Tenenbaums, Moviefone explores cinema's oddest siblings.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
The best part of Disappearances by far is the teleporting aunt, because hell, it's a teleporting old woman who spouts off Shakespeare and shoots people. You can't miss the potential in that. Also, the film looks great; even though it was shot on the cheap (budgeted at 1.7 million dollars), the director does an admirable job using natural scenery to create atmosphere. Unfortunately, that's pretty much where the unique parts of Disappearances come to a halt. The plot is some hoary nonsense about smuggling whiskey that gets completely dropped in the last twenty minutes of the movie to make way for shit randomly disappearing and some ridiculous subplot about a curse. I guess these seemed like neat elements to include in a Western, but they just didn't fit here.
The kid gave probably one of the worst child performances I've ever seen. Every line he delivered took me straight out of the movie, which wasn't that hard in the first place because it's not particularly gripping. They should have just put teleporting lady in his place and the movie would have been ten times better. The rest of the acting isn't bad; I guess Kris Kristofferson is important or something, which is why he ends up doing movies like this, right?