Putty Hill

Name: Putty Hill
Genre: Drama
Released: February 18, 2011
Duration: 87 min
Rating: 78

2011

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 9 Ratings

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5.6

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5.6	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 9 Ratings

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Putty Hill

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Movie Details & Credits

Cinema Guild | Release Date: February 18, 2011 | Unrated

Summary: At a neighborhood karaoke bar, friends and family gather to remember a young man who passed away. Knowing little about his final days, they attempt to reconstruct his life. In the process, they offer a window onto their own lives, an evocative picture of working-class America, dislocated from the progress and mobility around them, butAt a neighborhood karaoke bar, friends and family gather to remember a young man who passed away. Knowing little about his final days, they attempt to reconstruct his life. In the process, they offer a window onto their own lives, an evocative picture of working-class America, dislocated from the progress and mobility around them, but united in pursuit of a shared dream. [The Cinema Guild]… Expand

Director: Matthew Porterfield

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Unrated

Runtime: 87 min

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Metascore

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Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

100

Roger Ebert

Apr 16, 2011

Putty Hill makes no statement. It looks. It looks with as much perception and sympathy as it is possible for a film to look. It is surprisingly effective. Read full review

IndieWire Eric Kohn

Feb 15, 2011

Unable to express the sorrow of Cory's passing or the larger sense of detachment from the world it represents, most of the people in Putty Hill try to remain disaffected. By pestering them with questions, Porterfield gets under their skin - and, in the process, ours as well. Read full review

Stephen Holden

Feb 17, 2011

Putty Hill doesn't strive for overt social commentary. It drops you into a world that the director, who grew up in the area, knows firsthand: a suburban fringe of stasis, downward mobility and lowered expectations. Read full review

Mark Holcomb

Feb 15, 2011

Porterfield intersperses these delicately underplayed scenes with doc-style question-and-answer exchanges that, while initially jarring, achieve maximum cumulative impact. Read full review

Mike Scott

Apr 22, 2011

It's a film for patient moviegoers. But for those moviegoers, it stands to be a rewarding experience. Read full review

Sheri Linden

Apr 7, 2011

The film captures the particular listlessness of youth in summer, the passed pipes and lazy swims in the gorge or the backyard pool. The adolescent posturing is equal parts toughness and vulnerability. Read full review

David Fear

Feb 15, 2011

Porterfield has proved he can do grit and atmosphere. Should the young director ever decide to channel this talent into storytelling with purpose and a point, he might be someone to watch out for. Read full review

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User Reviews

LaurieJay

Feb 23, 2012

Having been a lurker on the metacritic site for some time, Putty Hill is the movie that caused me to register so I could write reviews. This movie is terrible. How it found a distributor, let alone ever saw the light of day, is beyond me. The people are boring, the story, if you can call itHaving been a lurker on the metacritic site for some time, Putty Hill is the movie that caused me to register so I could write reviews. This movie is terrible. How it found a distributor, let alone ever saw the light of day, is beyond me. The people are boring, the story, if you can call it a story, is boring, great gobs of dialogue are lost due to mumbling and/or bad sound engineering; you learn nothing, and Putty Hill does not inspire you to think or to draw your own conclusions about anything. Maybe it was meant to be a faux documentary or something, but this movie is not entertaining or thought-provoking in any way. Don't waste your time.… Expand

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