The Hottest August

Name: The Hottest August
Genre: Documentary
Released: November 15, 2019
Duration: 94 min
Rating: 75
Cast: Clare Coulter

2019

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Generally favorable reviews based on 5 Critic Reviews

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Mixed or average reviews based on 4 Ratings

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The Hottest August

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Movie Details & Credits

Grasshopper Film | Release Date: November 15, 2019 | NR

Starring: Clare Coulter

Summary: The Hottest August gives us a window into the collective consciousness of the present. The film’s point of departure is one city over one month: New York City, including its outer boroughs, during August 2017. It’s a month heavy with the tension of a new President, growing anxiety over everything from rising rents to marching whiteThe Hottest August gives us a window into the collective consciousness of the present. The film’s point of departure is one city over one month: New York City, including its outer boroughs, during August 2017. It’s a month heavy with the tension of a new President, growing anxiety over everything from rising rents to marching white nationalists, and unrelenting news of either wildfires or hurricanes on every coast. The film pivots on the question of futurity: what does the future look like from where we are standing? And what if we are not all standing in the same place? The Hottest August offers a mirror onto a society on the verge of catastrophe, registering the anxieties, distractions, and survival strategies that preoccupy ordinary lives.… Expand

Director: Brett Story

Genre(s): Documentary

Rating: NR

Runtime: 94 min

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Critic Reviews

Glenn Kenny

Nov 14, 2019

This collection of interactions with ordinary people is a cinematic gift both simple and multilayered, an intellectual challenge and an emotional adventure. Read full review

Peter Debruge

Dec 23, 2019

Story’s an original, and the film is a revelation — a movie that’s as deep as we’re willing to read into it, and an invaluable time capsule for summers far in our future, assuming we ever get there. Read full review

Christopher Gray

Nov 11, 2019

The documentary represents a city ground down by inequality and division, where millions of selves who have by and large given up on one another. Read full review

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky

Nov 12, 2019

While it never feels completely defeatist, her film offers scattered snapshots of an uncertain society in its dog days. Read full review

Robert Abele

Nov 14, 2019

Sometimes an experiment feels like just an experiment, and that’s where the well-intentioned query The Hottest August ultimately lands. Read full review

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User Reviews

Brent_Marchant

Jan 25, 2020

While the tone is decidedly experimental and the narrative definitely defies categorization, this unconventional documentary attempts to provide an integrated look at our existence, one that seeks to reconcile our present with what could be our future at a time that's a crucial crossroad ofWhile the tone is decidedly experimental and the narrative definitely defies categorization, this unconventional documentary attempts to provide an integrated look at our existence, one that seeks to reconcile our present with what could be our future at a time that's a crucial crossroad of change on many fronts -- socially, politically, economically and environmentally, to name a few -- and the impact of that amalgamation of influences on everyday individuals, both personally and collectively. By combining impromptu, unscripted interviews with everyday Gothamites and footage of ordinary daily events and happenings of global significance (most notably the August 2017 solar eclipse), director Brett Story attempts to assemble a holistic package that illustrates the interconnectedness of all these elements and how to deal with them, both now and down the road. While the film is not entirely successful at its task (it's sometimes a bit too random and meandering in its approach), the filmmaker's obviously sincere attempt to show how the coalescence of these many factors influence us as individuals and as a species is nevertheless commendable, achieving something that other directors have sought to attain but not nearly as effectively or poetically as is the case here. "The Hottest August" is indeed an important film, one to be admired on multiple levels and one that's capable of both inspiring and terrifying us at the same time. If ever there were a film that shows how we're "living in interesting times," this would be it.… Expand

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eli_fjr

Jan 29, 2020

Ok enough. Worth a watch if you chillin' on a Sunday night. Prolly best to watch with close friends.

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