Goldberger and Giamatti strain too hard for strangeness.
Comment
05/04/07
The Hawk Is Dying (2007)
27
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:22
Fresh:6
Rotten:16
Average Rating:4.5/10
Consensus: Paul Giamatti lends his character some pathos, but The Hawk is Dying is otherwise too ambiguous and morose to be enjoyable.
Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: It is a basic human need to connect with something larger than yourself. Achieving this state of grace is an elusive goal, and oftentimes the process of making this connection doesn't look very... [More]
Starring: Michelle Williams, Paul Giamatti, Robert Wisdom, Rusty Schwimmer
Director: Julian Goldberger
Reviews for The Hawk Is Dying
Top CriticThese strengths seldom mesh persuasively.
05/04/07
Never takes flight.
04/07/07
The Hawk Is Dying is a fragile little movie, occasionally ridiculous, but with M. Night Shyamalan's Lady In The Water, Giamatti proved that he can make even the weirdest material believable.
04/05/07
Imagine an entire film infected with hangdog sensibility, unrelieved by humor or narrative interest, and you have The Hawk Is Dying.
04/02/07
Top CriticUltimately, this inscrutable film is just an exercise in self-indulgence.
03/31/07
For performing half this film with a predatory bird perched and flapping angrily on his arm, Paul Giamatti deserves some sort of award.
03/31/07
Giamatti delivers yet another superb performance, turning what might have been a freak show into an unexpectedly moving experience.
03/30/07
Isn't anywhere close to perfect, but giving yourself over to its performances is wonderfully rewarding.
03/30/07
Not an easy movie to watch, and it's far from perfect -- but it does have an artsy integrity and a fascinatingly intense performance by Paul Giamatti.
03/30/07
Goldberger's stubbornly insular script might have fared better on stage, where the story would feel more contained than suffocating.
03/30/07
There's enough worthwhile labor expended, especially by the powerful cast, to make Hawk Is Dying difficult to dismiss, even when it's hard to take.
03/29/07
I'd rather watch Goldberger fail than a hundred others succeed.
03/27/07
Resonant but angst-ridden, it's a subtle, strangely spiritual human drama that unfolds slowly, very slowly.
03/23/07
The principal human character warns more than once, "Don't look at The Hawk." That's good advice, film fans.
03/19/07
It's awfully hard to review a movie called The Hawk is Dying without avoiding bird synonyms and metaphors.
03/17/07
It's not exactly a one-man and a bird show, but it's as close as we're going to get.
05/22/06
Goldberger's study of a troubled man's obsession with falconry is admittedly flawed and Giamatti's acting is self-indulgent, yet there's something truly independent about this film which now gets a second chance to be seen at the Cannes Film Festival.
04/10/06
Giamatti, as always, is great. He brings George to life, which isn't all that difficult for one of the few dumpy, balding actors getting leading man roles in Hollywood.
02/17/06
Loaded with obtuse symbolism, the film is not only hard to understand, it isn't much fun trying to figure it out.
01/26/06
Top CriticLatest News for The Hawk Is Dying
April 28, 2007:
Trailer & Poster review 
More...
March 29, 2007:
Critical Consensus: Here's To You, "Robinsons"; "Blades" Needs Sharpening; "Lookout" Worth A Look
This week at the movies, we've got trips to the future ("Meet the Robinsons," starring Angela Bassett), ice-capades ("Blades of Glory," starring Will Ferrell... More...
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