The Unknown Country
Music Box Films | Release Date: July 28, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 14 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The PlaylistChristian GallichioAug 1, 2023
Gladstone manages to sell every emotion, moving from despair to wonder as the journey continues. Read full review
91
ColliderChase HutchinsonJul 27, 2023
Even in the moments where it can feel a little rough around the edges, the portrait being painted is a breathtaking and unrestrained one. It all comes together to ensure that, in the long cinematic history of American road movies, The Unknown Country carves out an indelible legacy of its own all the way to its final series of shattering shots. Read full review
91
IndieWireCarlos AguilarJul 17, 2023
While the stirring visual fluidity of “The Unknown Country,” her first fiction feature and a kindhearted triumph, provides further arguments pointing to Malick likely being an influence, what distinguishes Maltz’s approximation to that style of evocatively loose filmmaking is that it’s grounded on the personal victories of real individuals. Based on that, she forges eclectic narrative devices for a tone poem with substantial dramatic meat on its bones. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 24, 2023
There’s a dreamy and poetic side to the visual texture in The Unknown Country, as photographed, often gorgeously, by Andrew Hajek. The Badlands, the snakelike highways, the rippling sunsets step right up and strike their poses, but unselfconsciously. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyJul 28, 2023
You don't watch the movie. You experience it through your senses. Read full review
83
The Film StageJohn FinkJul 17, 2023
There is a giant world out there, and Maltz’s first narrative feature is a rich and moving ode of the people we encounter along the way, as well as the roads not taken. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleJul 28, 2023
Sometimes, The Unknown Country may be more a feeling than a movie, but that’s more than satisfactory. Attentive and artful, Maltz is a talent to watch, and in Gladstone, she’s fortunate enough to have a star (and guide) whose presence binds us to all this soulful roaming. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenJul 28, 2023
The quiet but stirring effect is a dreamscape of eye-opening geography, existential longing and the enduring workaday. Read full review
80
We Got This CoveredMartin CarrJul 17, 2023
The Unknown Country proves to be a road trip unlike any other. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleJenny NulfAug 3, 2023
The Unknown Country is a naturalistic exploration of America that’s hopeful of human connection in the midst of a country that sometimes feels hostile. It’s simplistic, but honest and true to Maltz and Gladstone’s optimism in the face of a place that sometimes bleeds hopelessness. Read full review
75
Paste MagazineUrsula Munoz S.Sep 19, 2023
With The Unknown Country, filmmaker Morrisa Maltz takes viewers on a journey through the American West that creatively blurs the line between fact and fiction with illuminating results. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleBob StraussAug 8, 2023
A touching combination of fact and fiction makes The Unknown Country one beautiful road trip. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreJul 24, 2023
Gladstone carries the picture as a reactor — to the stories she hears from this waitress, that grandfatherly distant relative, the bride-to-be. But even those reactions are subdued. Read full review
70
The New York TimesLisa KennedyJul 27, 2023
The film’s gentle detours into the real-life stories remind us that it is the people met on the road that so often make the trip memorable. Read full review
More From This Movie

82 Critic Reviews

tbd User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL