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Movies / On DVD / The Invisible Circus
The Invisible Circus

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The Invisible Circus (2001)

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Reviews Counted:60

Fresh:13

Rotten:47

Average Rating:4.1/10

Consensus: Despite Jordana Brewster's strong performance, The Invisible Circus lacks the necessary dramatic tension to be interesting. Also, the cultural and political contexts of the period are barely explored.

Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: In THE INVISIBLE CIRCUS, sixties idealism meets headlong with family conflict and, mysteriously, death. This compelling drama, based on Jennifer Egan's novel, begins in the infamous Summer of '69,... In THE INVISIBLE CIRCUS, sixties idealism meets headlong with family conflict and, mysteriously, death. This compelling drama, based on Jennifer Egan's novel, begins in the infamous Summer of '69, when radical hippie Faith O'Connor (Cameron Diaz), and her English boyfriend Wolf (Christopher Eccleston) take off for Europe, feeling that they will change the world for the positive. Faith diligently writes postcards to her younger sister Phoebe (Jordana Brewster). When they suddenly stop, the next Faith's family hears of her is that her body has been found at the bottom of a cliff outside a tiny Portuguese fishing village, the victim of an apparent suicide. Seven years later, Phoebe, a haunted, introverted teenager, still doesn't believe her adventurous, life-loving sister would have taken her own life so, against the wishes of her protective mother (Blythe Danner), Phoebe decides to retrace Faith's journey across Europe, using the postcards she had received from Faith as her only clues to a growing mystery. From a houseboat in Amsterdam to a flat in Paris, Phoebe follows Faith's footsteps right to the end. Along the way, she finds Wolf married and settled into a life of bourgeois complacency, one of the many twists in this chilling, engaging story. [More]

Starring: Jordana Brewster, Christopher Eccleston, Cameron Diaz, Patrick Bergin

Starring: Jordana Brewster, Christopher Eccleston, Cameron Diaz, Patrick Bergin, Camilla Belle, Blythe Danner

Director: Adam Brooks

Director: Adam Brooks
Screenwriter: Adam Brooks
Composer: Nick Laird-Clowes
Studio: New Line Cinema

[See More Credits]

Reviews for The Invisible Circus

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1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

A credible portrait of an era, and draws in its tensions and conflicts with quite some power.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
04/16/01
Michael Thomson
Michael Thomson
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Daily Mail [UK] | comment Comment
12/15/03
Christopher Tookey
Christopher Tookey
Daily Mail [UK]
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
12/15/03
Neil Norman
Neil Norman
This is London
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
12/10/01
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

This cinematic big top is worth the price of admission.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
02/02/01
E! Online

Part beautifully shot European travelogue and part moving exploration of the darker side of the hippie era's rabid idealism.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
02/07/01
Carla Meyer
Carla Meyer
San Francisco Chronicle

The film is overnarrated and in spots overwritten, but Brooks ... does well with actors, and he has coaxed an extraordinary performance out of the young Jordana Brewster.

Full Review Source: Slate | comment Comment
02/07/01
David Edelstein
David Edelstein
Slate

Mostly through Brewster's central, focusing performance, it brings back the time of youth gone mad with possibility.

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
02/01/01
David Elliott
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune

It's Diaz's movie as she tramps in and out of various flashbacks. She really sparkles.

Full Review Source: Greenwich Village Gazette | comment Comment
02/01/01
Eric Lurio
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette

A soul-satisfying film about one young woman's rite of initiation into adulthood.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
04/06/01
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
02/07/01
Greg Muskewitz
Greg Muskewitz
eFilmCritic.com

This modest project is all about atmosphere and reflection, and, as such, it is successful.

comment Comment
02/01/01
Gregory Weinkauf
Gregory Weinkauf
New Times

Brewster has us caught up in her adventure, making us empathize with her conflicts and compulsions.

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
01/09/01
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve

The sisters cut to the heart.

Full Review Source: Rolling Stone | comment Comment
02/01/01
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone

An absorbing story about hope, youthful ardency and shattered illusions that creates a bonding empathy between the audience and its pensive young heroine.

Full Review Source: SPLICEDWire | comment Comment
02/01/01
Rob Blackwelder
Rob Blackwelder
SPLICEDWire

Although well cast and acted, the movie doesn't amount to much. Still, it is an enjoyable enough diversion.

Full Review Source: Internet Reviews | comment Comment
02/12/01
Steve Rhodes
Steve Rhodes
Internet Reviews

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat

The Invisible Circus ... doesn't so much illuminate Phoebe's confusion as share it.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
02/02/01
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

By the time the uninspiring finale occurs the audience is completely lost in boredom and longing for the credits.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/10/02
Anthony Miele
Anthony Miele
Film Threat
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 >> >|
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