The Arbor

Name: The Arbor
Genre: Biography, Documentary
Released: April 27, 2011
Duration: 94 min
Rating: 88

2011

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Universal acclaim based on 10 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Ratings

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7.6

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7.6	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Ratings

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The Arbor

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Movie Details & Credits

Strand Releasing | Release Date: April 27, 2011 | Not Rated

Summary: Instead of making a conventional documentary or adapting Dunbar’s play The Arbor for the screen, director Clio Barnard has crafted a truly unique work that transcends genre and defies categorization. Following two years conducting audio interviews with Dunbar’s family, friends and neighbors, Barnard filmed actors lip-synching theInstead of making a conventional documentary or adapting Dunbar’s play The Arbor for the screen, director Clio Barnard has crafted a truly unique work that transcends genre and defies categorization. Following two years conducting audio interviews with Dunbar’s family, friends and neighbors, Barnard filmed actors lip-synching the interviews, flawlessly interpreting every breath, tick and nuance. The film focuses in particular on the playwright’s troubled relationship with her daughter Lorraine who was just 10 when her mother died. Barnard re-introduces Lorraine to her mother’s play and private letters, prompting her to reflect on the extraordinary parallels between their lives. Interwoven with these interviews are staged scenes of Dunbar’s play filmed on The Arbor, the street where she lived. (Strand Releasing)… Expand

Director: Clio Barnard

Genre(s): Biography, Documentary

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 94 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Loren King

Jul 21, 2011

An innovative hybrid of documentary, staged reading, fictional feature, and confessional, The Arbor defies categorization not merely for art's sake - although its artistry is without question - but because conventional forms seem inadequate for such a harrowing story. Read full review

100

Ronnie Scheib

Apr 25, 2011

Dramatically spellbinding and intellectually stimulating, picture abstractly manipulates multiple layers of representation to shattering effect. Read full review

100

IndieWire Eric Kohn

Apr 26, 2011

The cumulative impact of The Arbor is one of claustrophobia; at times, the endlessly downbeat adventures of Dunbar and her offspring grow almost unbearably morose. Read full review

J. Hoberman

Apr 26, 2011

Barnard makes the psychological mayhem Dunbar endured and inflicted tangible. Read full review

Boxoffice Magazine Matthew Nestel

May 2, 2011

Andrea Dunbar's portrait here is unforgiving; comparable to Joan Crawford in "Mommy Dearest" or Tobias Wolff's brass-knuckled dad in "This Boy's Life." Read full review

Joshua Rothkopf

Apr 26, 2011

The Arbor's pummeling second half begins with the collapse of its celebrity subject; the following spirals of self-destruction make you suspect that some childhoods are simply too hard to escape. Tough, worthy stuff. Read full review

Anthony Lane

May 7, 2011

Barnard's film, as if nervous of being felled by the straightforward, sinewy thump of Dunbar's writing, ducks and weaves in a series of sly approaches. [2 May 2011, p. 89]

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joomjim4

Jun 18, 2012

A prominently powerful innovative documentary film which explores not only life of a writer but also expressed the characters' perspectives toward "life" in such an extreme horrowing way. Everything about this film is so new and has been perfectly mixed that it becomes one of my favoriteA prominently powerful innovative documentary film which explores not only life of a writer but also expressed the characters' perspectives toward "life" in such an extreme horrowing way. Everything about this film is so new and has been perfectly mixed that it becomes one of my favorite documentary films of 2010.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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