The Pool takes viewers on a journey to Goa that is startling not only in the lush physical beauty it reveals but also in the subtle, finely wrought emotions it stirs.
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10/09/08
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The Pool (2008)
96 %
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 24
Fresh: 23
Rotten:1
Average Rating: 7.4/10
Consensus: Beautifully crafted with loosely drawn characters and a lilting, natural pace, Chris Smith's The Pool features a universal message to which everyone can relate.
Theatrical Release: Sep 5, 2008 Limited
Synopsis: A filmmaker who returns to Sundance in a new guise is a familiar enough occurrence, but to return with gifts as uniquely rendered as Chris Smith has with The Pool is rare in any year. In the same vein as his latest documentary work, Smith's... [More]
Starring: Nana Patekar, Venkatesh Chavan, Jhangir Badshah, Ayesha Mohan
Director: Chris Smith
Reviews for The Pool
Top Critic
Many directors claim to value local color, but few have gone as far, or achieved such impressive results, as has Chris Smith in The Pool.
10/03/08
Top Critic It doesn't sound like much, but in the hands of director Chris Smith, this setup makes for a good small-scale observational picture about young people finding that the world is a larger place than they imagined.
09/26/08
Top Critic For his keenly observant narrative feature debut, documentary filmmaker Chris Smith and writer Randy Russell have deftly transposed Russell's short story The Pool from Iowa to the Indian state of Goa, in the small city of Panjim.
09/19/08
Top Critic A film that is a kind of counter-film, which sets expectations in an environment that supports unexpected results.
09/17/08
Top Critic Documentary filmmaker Chris Smith's feature debut is startling, original and quietly winning.
09/16/08
The resonant, beautifully naturalistic drama The Pool is a return to the familiar subject of haves and have-nots for director Chris Smith.
09/05/08
Top Critic A lovely, warm, unforced film that gives you time to get to know its characters and isn't propelled by any artificial narrative conventions, or for that matter by any Dickensian social outrage.
09/05/08
Top Critic This unassuming yet hugely ambitious undertaking reveals a filmmaker with an impressive range and depth of feeling that is only now becoming apparent.
09/05/08
Top Critic A quiet, quirky, well-observed fiction about aspiration and connection.
09/05/08
Top Critic The film has a refreshing sense of proportion without seeming as determinedly minor or mannered as other indies. It's a vivid piece of sketchwork.
09/04/08
Instead of a collection of souvenir-tchotchke exotic vistas, The Pool is an album of observed human minutiae.
09/04/08
Top Critic
Chris Smith's low-key coming-of-age film/slice of contemporary Indian life takes forever to get where it's going, which turns out to be pretty much nowhere.
09/03/08
The Pool takes a look at the lives of the haves and the someday might haves in Goa.
09/03/08
Top Critic It is rare to find a very well crafted film that conveys a gentle and sensitive universal message that everyone can understand, without being considered silly or sappy.
09/02/08
It is rare to find a very well crafted film that conveys a gentle and sensitive universal message that everyone can understand, without being considered silly or sappy.
09/02/08
Such a different movie from the Americana Chris Smith has covered in his previous films ... but it's a refreshing departure that gives us a different glimpse at the people of India than we've seen in common Bollywood fare.
09/02/08
Latest News for The Pool
January 28, 2007:
Sundance Awards: "Padre Nuestro," "Grace is Gone" Among Competition Winners
Results are in for this year's Sundance festival winners, including awards for John Cusack's "Grace is Gone," Christopher Zalla's "Padre Nuestro," NASA... More...
Related Forums for The Pool
(2008 release)-Chris Smith's THE POOL opens September 3rd in NYC @ the Film Forum!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/11
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/11
(2008 release)-Chris Smith's THE POOL opens September 3rd in NYC @ the Film Forum!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/11
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/11
(2008 release)-Chris Smith's THE POOL opens September 3rd in NYC @ the Film Forum!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/11
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/11
(2008 release)-Chris Smith's THE POOL opens September 3rd in NYC @ the Film Forum!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/11
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/11
Chris Smith's THE POOL nabs an Independent SPIRIT nom, but not a distributor???
by: Darko, Donnie 11/27/07
by: Darko, Donnie 11/27/07
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