ROTTEN TOMATOES: Sundance Reviews: "American Crime" Is Painful, "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib" Is Haunting Comments

Sundance Reviews: "American Crime" Is Painful, "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib" Is Haunting

by Tim Ryan | January 21, 2007

Summary

Here are some short reviews of "An American Crime," starring Catherine Keener and Ellen Page, and the Iraq war doc, "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib," both of which screened at the Sundance Film Festival. Back to Article

(1-7 of 7 posts) | Reply

dagreenman18 writes:
on Jan 21 2007 09:53 AM

Ya know, it's hard to imagine Catherine Keener as anyone else except "the hot grandma" from The 40 Year Old Virgin.

As for Ghosts, im atually very intrested in seeing it, but i can't fly out to Utah right now, so i guess i'll wait.

(Reply to this)

FireflyFan4evr writes:
on Jan 21 2007 03:47 PM

My God, people are FINALLY realizing that the orders to torture the prisoners came from THE TOP and NOT the lowly soldiers themselves. What a shock.

Not.

But I am glad someone finally did a documentary on this subject. Hopefully it provides much needed insight into the matter.

(Reply to this)

Ashron writes:
on Jan 21 2007 11:52 PM

Afraid I'm going to have to heartily disagree with you on American Crime. I found the character developed as much as they needed to be to tell the story. I actually felt sorry for the mother even as I wanted her to die a painful death for what she was doing. And I'm not sure what kind of cold-hearted bastards you were attending with, but the people around me were riveted, and gasps of surprise and disbelief greeted the "ending." While I agree the film was excrutiating, at least it wasn't outright exploitive, like so many so-called horror films that are nothing but excuses for senseless torture.

But those are just my thoughts.

(Reply to this)

unbreakable_samurai writes:
on Jan 22 2007 08:04 AM

I like Catherine Keener and was hoping this would be good, so it's to bad it's not better, I'm still going to see it, plus Ashron says it's allright.

(Reply to this)

Sputnik22 writes:
on Jan 22 2007 11:11 AM

Hey Tim, not only did I sit in on that same screening of "An American Crime" but I was the guy that checked your press credentials in line (as a Sundance volunteer).

It's erie how similar our reactions to the film are. You can tell they caught hold of this shocking & morbid story and were solely intent on relaying those same sickening events rather than creating a narrative or telling a story. It really left me frustrated and in no way fulfilled.

And also, Ellen Page's character was named "Sylvia," not Sophie. Thought it could be important since it was based on an actual person and not a character.

Keep on keeping on - see you back at the Yarrow.

(Reply to this)

Tim Ryan writes:
on Jan 22 2007 10:49 PM

In reply to this comment (#853609)
Goodness, thanks for the correction. My bad.

(Reply to this)

Tim Ryan writes:
on Jan 22 2007 10:50 PM

In reply to this comment (#853607)
It's funny, because I didn't like it at all, but I have talked to a lot of people I respect who really liked it. Agree to disagree.

(Reply to this)

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