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Under the Volcano

Under the Volcano (1984)

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 4
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 1

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Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 1,651

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A strange, hallucinatory adaptation of the Malcolm Lowry novel of the same name, John Huston's bleak drama is set during the Mexican "Day of the Dead" ceremony in 1939. Albert Finney stars as Geoffrey Firmin, the booze-besotted former British consul to Cuernevarca, who has cut himself off from his loved ones, the better to drink himself to death while surrounded by all manner of skull-and-skeleton decorations. At the urging of his wife Yvonne (Jacqueline Bisset), his half-brother Hugh (Anthony

R, 1 hr. 52 min.

Drama

Oct 23, 2007

Criterion Collection

Cast

All Critics (16) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (15) | Rotten (4) | DVD (8)

Although this voyage into self-destruction won't be to the taste of many, there will be few unmoved by Finney's towering performance as the tragic Britisher.

October 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The movie belongs to Finney, but mention must be made of Jacqueline Bisset as his wife and Anthony Andrews as his half-brother.

October 23, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment
Chicago Sun-Times
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Daring as it is to have brought Under the Volcano to the screen in this faithful but incomplete form, Mr. Huston has done so without making compromises in the process.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
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As the tortured consul, Albert Finney has moments of technical brilliance, but Huston's direction gives him no inner life.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
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The film itself is remarkable because Finney is remarkable. He is the volcano of the title.

November 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Needcoffee.com | Comment
Needcoffee.com

Succeeds in capturing the novel's sense of doom and gets a tour de force performance from Albert Finney.

November 8, 2007 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

should be a powerfully emotional film, and while it frequently is, it is a remote, distanced kind of emotion

October 30, 2007 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | Comment
Q Network Film Desk

John Huston's version of Malcolm Lowry's dense, poetic unfilmable book is ambitious but only semi-effective in conveying this cult novel's tone; it's ultimately saved by the towering performance of Albert Finney as the alcoholic self-destructive consul

October 29, 2007 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

The Criterion DVD edition of Huston's 1984 film contains many features, including interview with star Bisset, docu on the making of film, and best of all, the 1976 Oscar-nominated feature Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry.

October 28, 2007 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

The result is very much worth the wait, bringing to life the mysticism of Mexico with a superb script by Guy Gallo, exquisite photography, and the unparalleled performance by Finney.

October 23, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Not for the purists, maybe, but the last half-hour, as Firmin plunges ever deeper into his self-created hell, leaves one shell-shocked.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Captures and conveys the hot music of what some literary critics have called the greatest religious novel of the twentieth century

July 23, 2003 Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | Comment
Spirituality and Practice

A supremely difficult book becomes an easy film, and struggles hard to find a reason to exist.

May 24, 2003 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Under the Volcano

"That's the way to contend with the grim reaper, offering him a drink and a dance..."Finney, what a performance.

May 16, 2009
pier007

Super Reviewer

Director John Huston's fascinating character study of a self-destructive alcoholic former British diplomat named Geoffery Firmin, played by Albert Finney in a devastating tour-de-force performance that deservedly earn him an Oscar nomination. The story unfolds in a small Mexican village during the Day of the Dead

October 19, 2010
Dannyrovira

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • Au-dessous du volcan (FR)
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