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No consensus yet.
All Critics (32) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (24) | Rotten (8) | DVD (1)
This curious blend of documentary and narrative, held together less by any plot device than by a rigorous aesthetic, proves all the more effective for being in service of casual naturalism. Aug 8, 2011 | Full Review…
This curious blend of documentary and narrative, held together less by any plot device than by a rigorous aesthetic, proves all the more effective for being in service of casual naturalism.
Ronnie Scheib
Points must be awarded for nerve, but virtually every aspect of this misbegotten film misfires. Aug 8, 2011 | Full Review…
Points must be awarded for nerve, but virtually every aspect of this misbegotten film misfires.
Peter Brunette
The originality here lies in the fact that the unseen director, Matt Porterfield, armed with his camera, asks them about their feelings. Jun 17, 2011
The originality here lies in the fact that the unseen director, Matt Porterfield, armed with his camera, asks them about their feelings.
Derek Malcolm
Matt Porterfield's docu-realist indie drama is a tough, demanding watch - but also a rewarding one. Jun 16, 2011 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
Matt Porterfield's docu-realist indie drama is a tough, demanding watch - but also a rewarding one.
Peter Bradshaw
Porterfield's rejection of obvious irony makes this not only a warm film, but one which shows the real face of America's poor, young and disenfranchised. Jun 15, 2011 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…
Porterfield's rejection of obvious irony makes this not only a warm film, but one which shows the real face of America's poor, young and disenfranchised.
David Jenkins
With "Putty Hill," Porterfield joins the company of American indie directors Ramin Bahrani and Kelly Reichardt, filmmakers often compelled to seek out everyday souls in their textured, oh-so quotidian environs. Apr 22, 2011 | Rating: 3/4
With "Putty Hill," Porterfield joins the company of American indie directors Ramin Bahrani and Kelly Reichardt, filmmakers often compelled to seek out everyday souls in their textured, oh-so quotidian environs.
Lisa Kennedy
It's a movie that never comes close to its real potential. Aug 9, 2018 | Full Review…
It's a movie that never comes close to its real potential.
Sarah Manvel
[Matthew] Porterfield has achieved something hugely impressive; he's managed to make an improvised movie using regular people that is immensely watchable and not just in relation to the circumstances it was made under but in relation to movies in general Sep 28, 2017 | Rating: 3.5/5 | Full Review…
[Matthew] Porterfield has achieved something hugely impressive; he's managed to make an improvised movie using regular people that is immensely watchable and not just in relation to the circumstances it was made under but in relation to movies in general
Yasmin Shehab
It's not triumph-of-the-human-spirit territory, but... For these kids in these circumstances, a little bit of grace is plenty. Sep 27, 2017 | Full Review…
It's not triumph-of-the-human-spirit territory, but... For these kids in these circumstances, a little bit of grace is plenty.
Jason Anderson
What brings the bare-bones narrative alive is the mostly improvised dialogue created by the actors as the camera prepared to roll. Feb 28, 2016 | Full Review…
What brings the bare-bones narrative alive is the mostly improvised dialogue created by the actors as the camera prepared to roll.
David Sterritt
While this film could win some kind of award for getting the most out of a limited budget, the low budget of the film is a handicap that isn't fully overcome. It is an experimental film that works part of the time and fails part of the time. Feb 2, 2012 | Rating: C | Full Review…
While this film could win some kind of award for getting the most out of a limited budget, the low budget of the film is a handicap that isn't fully overcome. It is an experimental film that works part of the time and fails part of the time.
Robert Roten
Porterfield's ingenious structural choices and the film's exemplary sense of place... [are] only enough to make the film tolerable. Jan 5, 2012 | Rating: 6/10 | Full Review…
Porterfield's ingenious structural choices and the film's exemplary sense of place... [are] only enough to make the film tolerable.
Tim Brayton
"Putty Hill" is a low key and naturalistic movie that takes place after Cory has overdosed at the age of 24. As we find out through interviews conducted with various characters(by director Matthew Porterfield which are reminiscent of Peter Watkins' historicals), there is a lengthy history of violence and early deaths in this Baltimore neighborhood, not to mention prison sentences.(Even the play is violent in the early paint ball scene.) Violence is so commonplace that a group of high school girls are merely inconvenienced when they have to vacate a park after an armed robbery in the area. So, it is ironic that the one thing to bring everybody back together is a funeral, including Zoe(Zoe Vance) who is uneasy in her return from Delaware. And the final sequence serves to bring events full circle, just as the characters simply go round and round in their lives.
Super Reviewer
Odd mix of faux-documentary and mumblecore looks at how the death of a local teenager affects and entire town. Odd mix of faux-documentary and mumblecore looks at how the death of a local teenager affects and entire town.Its strange mix of styles is more off-putting than involving. The mumblecore masquerading as documentary feels forced rather than fluid.
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