George Washington
2000, Drama, 1h 30m
63 Reviews 5,000+ RatingsWhat to know
critics consensus
Languid and melancholy, George Washington is a carefully observed rumination on adolescence and rural life. Read critic reviews
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Movie Info
Cast & Crew
Nasia
George
Buddy
Damascus
Rico Rice
Vernon
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Critic Reviews for George Washington
Audience Reviews for George Washington
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Jan 02, 2012Nasia: Sometimes I smile and laugh when I think of all the great things you're gonna do. I hope you live forever. "down this twisted road, please watch over my soul and lift me up so gently so as not to touch the ground." David Gordon Green's debut feature, George Washington, is immensely different from the films he's been putting out for the last few years. He's been putting out stoner, sex comedies like Pineapple Express, Your Highness, and The Sitter. George Washington couldn't be less like those movies. It is as far away from comedy as you can be. It's a slow and sad film from a child, Nasia's, point of view. She narrates the story of George, and how he and a couple of friends accidentally killed their friend Buddy. From that point on, these kids aren't really kids any more. The innocence of childhood has left them. If you want poignant storytelling, George Washington is your film. It's a movie where you can feel for a character, that something awful has happened to. George isn't a bad, rebellious youth, as a lot of these types of films use. He's a good kid, who is in a poor area, around other poor kids. He has a disease that doesn't allow him to get his head wet, and a little bump on the head could kill him. He's limited in what he can do with his friends. You can feel the scene where everything turns about five minutes before it happens. When the scene is occurring, you know this is where the tragedy is going to occur. David Gordon Green does the tragic scene the realistic and proper way. Stuff like this doesn't occur like it does in most movies. There's no suspenseful music before hand, there's no slow motion while it's going on, there's no crazy freakout rant afterwards. When a tragic event occurs, you are stunned, and you do what these kids do. You sit down on the ground and stare, until one of you can get up the courage to make a decision what to do next. I can best describe this Indie movie, by saying it resembles the same feel of a Gus Van Sant indie. There's a bunch of no name actors, that don't really try to act. They perform like real people. They occasionally will make mistakes when they talk and stutter over words, trying to find the right thing to say. Gus Van Sant did Paranoid Park like six or seven years after this, and the two are quite alike. Paranoid Park went a different route in the aftermath of the accident, but the lead up is a lot alike. George Washington isn't a film that is for everyone. You may end up finding it too slow or too boring. You may feel that it doesn't quite go anywhere plot wise. But if you like understated, subtle dramas, give it a watch. It just may blow you away.Melvin W Super Reviewer
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Nov 11, 2011Stand By Us. Beautiful. There is a huge brick wall separating this experimental sample of genuine filmmaking from modern melodrama offerings. Honest, accurate and emotional to the bone, <i>George Washington</i> displays the reality invading cotidianity in places ravaged by harshness and loneliness in all of its layers without using extreme means to cause thought and a knot in the throat. The haunting score illuminates the pure soul of this feature. It's like a big inhalation of fresh air. 97/100Edgar C Super Reviewer
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Oct 30, 2011A startling poetic film.Graham J Super Reviewer
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Jun 27, 2011A poetic and beautiful little film.Alex H Super Reviewer
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