Rat Film
Cinema Guild, The | Release Date: September 15, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 13 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Los Angeles TimesSheri LindenOct 12, 2017
There’s a thrilling friction between the smoothly assembled pieces of Anthony’s narrative, and often sparks. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsSep 14, 2017
It’s one of the most imaginative and provocative documentaries on any topic I’ve seen this year. Read full review
100
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisSep 14, 2017
Equal parts disturbing and humorous, informative and bizarre, Rat Film is a brilliantly imaginative and formally experimental essay on how Baltimore has dealt with its rat problem and manipulated its black population. Read full review
91
The PlaylistNoel MurrayMar 13, 2017
Rat Film doesn’t really make an impassioned political statement. Instead, Anthony assembles striking, allusive pictures and sounds into a one-of-a-kind experience, meant to provoke thought. Read full review
91
The Film StageDaniel SchindelMar 9, 2017
Rat Film stalks between being repellent, riveting, and darkly humorous. Read full review
91
IndieWireEric KohnSep 9, 2016
It’s a striking combination of analysis and creative innovation that communes with the past and present, uniting them as a beautiful, absurdist tone poem about the struggles facing those dealt less fortunate hands in life. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)John SemleySep 21, 2017
Rat Film is most compelling when it moves out of the history of Baltimore's civic-planning and pest-control schemes and settles on its denizens, both human and rodent. Read full review
81
Paste MagazineDom SinacolaOct 19, 2017
Anthony’s is the rare film that thrives in its parts rather than in the sum of them, though the sum is breathlessly simple, to the extent that one wonders why no film has ever connected the lines—lined up the parallels—as Anthony has. Read full review
80
The New YorkerRichard BrodySep 2, 2017
[Anthony] turns a concluding sequence of civic pride and good cheer into a brilliantly light-hearted fantasy of grave import, a radical political utopia conjured with a deft artistic flourish. It’s one of the most extraordinary, visionary inspirations in the recent cinema. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleySep 15, 2017
Rat Film is an odd and captivating experience, and its fluid style is its most distinguishing characteristic. Read full review
70
Village VoiceBilge EbiriSep 14, 2017
What exactly does it all mean? I’m not sure, but it does make for a disturbing and occasionally absorbing watch. Read full review
60
VarietyDennis HarveyJan 18, 2018
Artfully assembled and often entertaining, the diverse whole nonetheless doesn’t quite gel, with the film finally coming off as somewhat pretentious and heavy-handed. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineClayton DillardSep 11, 2017
Inherent to director Theo Anthony's misappropriation of the essay form is a conflicting account of precisely which history his documentary seeks to investigate. Read full review
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