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Movies / On DVD / American Cannibal - The Documentary
American Cannibal - The Documentary

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American Cannibal - The Documentary (2006)

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Reviews Counted:25

Fresh:16

Rotten:9

Average Rating:5.7/10

Consensus: American Cannibal is a scathing, funny exploration of America's obsession with constructed realism and fame.

Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins

Genre: Television

Synopsis: "American Cannibal" pushes beyond "Fahrenheit/911" and "Supersize Me" to break new ground in documentary territory. Rather than forcing situations and twisting facts to tell a story, filmmakers... "American Cannibal" pushes beyond "Fahrenheit/911" and "Supersize Me" to break new ground in documentary territory. Rather than forcing situations and twisting facts to tell a story, filmmakers Perry Grebin & Michael Nigro spent two and a half years twisting real life itself, and the result is the story. The filmmakers began "American Cannibal" in 2004 as a bold social experiment with reality. The set in motion real events that allowed them unlimited access to the results, pushing their cameras deep into the glitterdome of reality-TV production to emerge with an equally bold exposé. They watch as struggling writers earnestly pitch TV ideas, eventually selling out to the man behind the Paris Hilton sex tape. The sadistic, shameless reality show they churn out is documented from start to finish: from throwaway pitch to manic auditions through train-wreck production. Alongside the drama, the filmmakers interview prominent producers, psychologists, network execs, celebrities and "D-lebrities," who offer candid insight and scathing judgements on our society. "American Cannibal" is a documentary as wild as the story behind it: a shocking, hilarious, bona fide portrait of our celebrity-driven culture and the appalling lengths we’ll go to for entertainment. -- © Lifesize Entertainment [More]

Starring: Trishelle Cannatella

Starring: Trishelle Cannatella

Director: Perry Grebin, Michael Nigro

Director: Perry Grebin, Michael Nigro
Producer: Perry Grebin, Michael Nigro, Denis Jensen

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Reviews for American Cannibal - The Documentary

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
07/12/07
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
10/02/07
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Not so much an examination of the tragic trajectory of an ill-fated reality-TV show but just the biggest hoax since The Blair Witch Project.

Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | comment 1 Comment
09/07/07
Kam Williams
Kam Williams
NewsBlaze

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
08/22/07
Lou Lumenick
Lou Lumenick
New York Post

essential viewing for any latter-day TV watcher.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
08/15/07
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

How far would you go to eat a finger?

Full Review Source: Monsters and Critics | comment Comment
06/02/07
Ron Wilkinson
Ron Wilkinson
Monsters and Critics

If there's one thing to be learned from American Cannibal, it's this: Pursuing a career in the TV industry is only for those with a superhuman tolerance for sleazy opportunism.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
05/22/07
Marc Mohan
Marc Mohan
Oregonian

The real savagery is in the satire, coldly measuring the lengths to which contestants might go and the depths to which the protagonists sink.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
04/27/07
Michael Ordoña
Michael Ordoña
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Reality television is painful enough to watch at home, let alone on the big screen, but directors Perry Grebin and Michael Nigro somehow didn't get the message.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
04/17/07
Frank Scheck
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

American Cannibal is ostensibly about the phony, exploitative nature of reality TV, and though documentarians Perry Grebin and Michael Nigro hit that point too hard by piling up interviews with TV experts who speak in exaggerated cautionary tones,

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
04/05/07
Noel Murray
Noel Murray
AV Club

"American Cannibal" is a fast-paced satire about the state reality television that builds its humor on its depiction of the limits our current reality TV craze.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
03/23/07
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

For all of its self-consciously sophisticated layering, American Cannibal manages a few authentically dark moments of its own.

Full Review Source: Reeler | comment Comment
03/23/07
Michelle Orange
Michelle Orange
Reeler

A genuine cinematic hoot, while also providing insight into the ways of American mass entertainment.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
03/21/07
Doris Toumarkine
Doris Toumarkine
Film Journal International

To the film’s credit, it’s finally a whistle-blower on unsafe shooting practices, not unsafe dining habits.

Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment Comment
03/17/07
Joshua Rothkopf
Joshua Rothkopf
Time Out New York

Until everything collapses, and the filmmakers are left grasping at straws, it’s absorbing in a sick way.

comment Comment
03/16/07
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

What's here is a glimpse not into how far people will go to win a reality-TV show, but how far greedy writers and producers will go to degrade, debauch and enrich themselves.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
03/16/07
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News

This was much better when Mel Brooks did it back in the '60s.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Insiders | comment Comment
03/16/07
Eric Lurio
Eric Lurio
Entertainment Insiders

Reality TV has rarely cared much about truth -- and maybe this is the doc it deserves. The crass truthiness here is far more apt than any of the glossy satire in American Dreamz.

Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
03/16/07
Logan Hill
Logan Hill
New York Magazine

Less a piece of incisive cultural commentary than a riveting portrait of two nice guys whose lives and careers go into a tailspin, one moral compromise at a time.

Full Review Source: Reel.com | comment Comment
03/16/07
Jim Hemphill
Jim Hemphill
Reel.com

It's insightful as well as entertaining, and the inclusion of real interviews with people both inside and outside the business means it functions as both an intelligent critique and a dire warning.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
03/16/07
Ken Fox
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide
 
 
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Latest News for American Cannibal - The Documentary

September 12, 2007: Not so much an examination of the tragic trajectory of an ill-fated reality-TV show but just the biggest hoax since The Blair Witch Project. Opens in new window
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