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Movies / On DVD / Whole New Thing
Whole New Thing

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Whole New Thing (2007)

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Reviews Counted: 24

Fresh: 16

Rotten:8

Average Rating: 6.3/10

Consensus: The tender little moments of adolescence are beautifully captured in this warm and modest coming-of-age drama.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release: Apr 6, 2007 Limited

Synopsis: Aaron Webber makes an outstanding feature-film debut in WHOLE NEW THING as 13-year-old Emerson, a precocious homeschooled boy who spends most of his time, when not alone in his room, with his very liberal parents and his parents' friends.... Aaron Webber makes an outstanding feature-film debut in WHOLE NEW THING as 13-year-old Emerson, a precocious homeschooled boy who spends most of his time, when not alone in his room, with his very liberal parents and his parents' friends. He takes naked saunas and smokes dope with his mother, Kaya (Rebecca Jenkins), and father, Rog (Robert Joy), and gives erotic back rubs to their female friends. But Kaya, who needs a change in her life, believes it must start with Emerson going to the local public school and meeting some kids his own age. It also involves her getting involved with Denny (Callum Keith Rennie) because of Rog's growing bitterness about his failing career. Despite his protestations, Emerson goes off to school, and after his initial displeasure with the whole new experience, thinking he is above it all, he soon develops a crush on his teacher, Don Grant (cowriter Daniel MacIvor). Don, meanwhile, likes to spend his free time having anonymous sex with strange men in public rest-stop bathrooms. Beautifully shot on location in Nova Scotia by Christopher Ball, and expertly directed and cowritten by Amnon Buchbinder, WHOLE NEW THING, a film-festival favorite shot in a mere 15 days, is a touching coming-of-age story with fascinating, unique characters, strong acting, and plenty of unexpected twists and turns. Buchbinder's brother David composed, arranged, conducted, and produced the film's score, with additional music from the Hidden Cameras. [More]

Starring: Aaron Webber, Daniel Maclvor, Robert Joy, Callum Keith Rennie

Starring: Aaron Webber, Daniel Maclvor, Robert Joy, Callum Keith Rennie, Rebecca Jenkins, Kathyrn MacLellan, Hugh Thompson, Jackie Torrens

Director: Amnon Buchbinder

Director: Amnon Buchbinder
Screenwriter: Amnon Buchbinder
Producer: Kelly Bray, Camelia Frieberg
Composer: David Buchbinder
Studio: Picture This! Entertainment

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Release:

Jul 31, 2007

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Full Frame - 1.33

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
  • Dolby Digital 2.0 - English
  • Subtitles - Spanish

Additional Release Material:

  • Audio Commmentary - Director & Actors
  • Coming Attractions
  • Trailer

Interactive Features:

  • Scene Selections

Reviews for Whole New Thing

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Ratings Image

a small-scale film with big emotional payoffs.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
10/16/07
Don Willmott
Filmcritic.com
Ratings Image

The movie is both amusing and disturbing as it explores Emerson's lurching efforts to bond with his teacher.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
05/04/07
Kyle Smith
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Toronto-based filmmaker Amnon Buchbinder tackles the sensitive subject of adolescent sexuality in this winning coming-of-age character study set in a wintry small town in Nova Scotia.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
05/04/07
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Ratings Image

These knots are all tied by the end, but not memorably so.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
05/04/07
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

This wry, tender 2005 Canadian comedy puts a fresh spin on the theme of adolescent sexual awakening.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
05/04/07
Albert Williams
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

A gentle, perceptive Canadian film.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
05/04/07
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Buchbinder displays an original filmic eye, but mostly Whole New Thing is a few drafts short of an emotionally fulfillilng feature.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
04/14/07
Shlomo Schwartzberg
Boxoffice Magazine
Ratings Image

... promises slightly more than it delivers but still comes together nicely.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
04/09/07
Rafer Guzman
Newsday
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Ratings Image

But what's salutary about this effort is the canny intelligence and emotional understanding director Amnon Buchbinder has brought to the mostly well-wrought screenplay he wrote with MacIvor.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
04/09/07
David Noh
Film Journal International
Ratings Image

The dialogue has a sour, sitcom ring that grows tiresome and irritating before the second reel.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
04/07/07
Phil Hall
Film Threat
Ratings Image

With its narcissistic, not-as- sharp-as- he-thinks- he-is juvenile hero and weird approach to bridging the generation gap, Whole New Thing plays a lot like Wes Anderson's Rushmore, only sober instead of whimsical.

Full Review Source: Onion AV Club | comment Comment
04/07/07
Noel Murray
Onion AV Club
Ratings Image

... well-intentioned but underwhelming ...

Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment Comment
04/07/07
Tom Beer
Time Out New York
Ratings Image

The cast is uniformly excellent, but Webber in his first feature role is a stand out, delivering a subtle performance that offers a fully realized portrayal of a smart, sensitive, confused, and sometimes bratty and obnoxious youth.

Full Review Source: Reel.com | comment Comment
04/06/07
Pam Grady
Reel.com
Ratings Image

If its portrait of hippie parents raising a misfit child has much in common with Rebecca Miller's Ballad of Jack and Rose, Whole New Thing refrains from going to the same extremes.

comment Comment
04/06/07
Stephen Holden
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Buchbinder's direction creates a tremendous sense of location and adolescent awkwardness that blossoms beautifully during the picture.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
04/05/07
Brian Orndorf
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image

After a precisely crafted first hour with nary a detail out of place, Whole New Thing comes unglued toward the end, spiraling into melodrama without ever escaping its whiny, indie-rock soundtrack.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
04/04/07
Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Neither is it funny -- or poignant or insightful or remotely worth one's time except as a reminder that Canadian indies can be every bit as feeble as American ones.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
04/03/07
Rob Nelson
Village Voice
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Ratings Image

[The film] shows respect for open communications and differing life styles and lets the audience in on diverse feelings and ways of acting them out.

Full Review Source: Monsters and Critics | comment Comment
04/02/07
Ron Wilkinson
Monsters and Critics
Ratings Image

Thing suffers the familiar curse of Canadian seriocomedy -- just nice enough in content and stylistically like a telepic.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
04/02/07
Dennis Harvey
Variety
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Ratings Image

Evinces an Ed Zwickian dramatic tenor that would probably scan better on ABC.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
03/25/07
Ed Gonzalez
Slant Magazine
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Latest News for Whole New Thing

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(2007 USA release)-WHOLE NEW THING is a gay teenflick opening THIS FRIDAY in NYC!!!
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(2007 USA release)-WHOLE NEW THING is a gay teenflick opening THIS FRIDAY in NYC!!!
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REEL_REVIEWER
(2007 USA release)-WHOLE NEW THING is a gay teenflick opening THIS FRIDAY in NYC!!!
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