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Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Critic Consensus: No consensus yet.
All Critics (18) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (15) | Rotten (3) | DVD (1)
The city's seedy charm has not often been captured so atmospherically.
The film can be seen as simply a kind of impressionistic travelogue, but it slowly and irresistibly conveys that we're also seeing a rite of passage.
"Tchoupitoulas" is a jewel-bright whoosh of a ride through nighttime New Orleans.
It is alive with the risk and curiosity of youth, and unapologetic in insisting that the pursuit of fun can be a profound and transformative experience.
The Rosses are happy to trade cohesion for a rich, varied immersion in New Orleans nightlife. It's less a documentary than a feature-length vibe.
Questions about the literal truth of Tchoupitoulas are thorny and perhaps besides the point. After all, the filmmakers aren't hiding the artifice.
Overall, the documentary's strengths lie in its photography, art direction, sound mixing and editing. Other than that, there's not much substance.
A lovely, lyrical film that wondrously captures a very specific time and place -- that is, New Orleans at night, as seen through the eyes of a child.
At 80 minutes, the film feels a bit long. That's probably an example of the filmmakers' affection for their subjects, both the Zanders brothers and New Orleans.
Tchoupitoulas feels like a cinematic exercise grasping blindly for reason and statement -- a beautifully crafted paragraph in search of a topic sentence.
With wide-eyed wonder, three young brothers are charmed by New Orleans' spectacular nightlife for the first time.
Without offering much context or addressing obvious social issues, it's an evocative tribute to its setting and to childhood innocence.
"Tchoupitoulas" is an engaging blend of documentary and fiction, set around three brothers, Bryan, Kentrell and William, and their dog, as they take the ferry across the Mississippi for a nighttime visit to New Orleans, especially the French Quarter, with a special emphasis on food and music, both of which resplendent. Events flow naturally through the night smoothly with the boys enjoying their adventures. The only exception to that is the mad dash for the last ferry which definitely feels staged. And seeing as there are things too adult for their young eyes, the movie goes off on its own to explore the ladies of burlesque, some times getting a little too distracted for its own good. Of the three boys, we get to know William the best through his thoughts and dreams, in his case winning six Super Bowl rings. Unlike other kids of his age, he seems genuinely interested in playing the recorder which is usually just foisted onto all children, comparing notes with a young flutist at one point.
Super Reviewer
Documentary following three boys who miss the ferry home and are stranded alone in New Orleans overnight. An abstract tribute to childhood wonder; nine year old William, a curious dreamer and budding poet, becomes more interesting than the carnival city and its street performers.
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