Sweetgrass 2009

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: The first essential movie of this young year. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: As subcultural anthropology, it's unassailable. Yet the often ugly-looking DV aesthetic dilutes the cumulative effect. Read more

Ted Fry, Seattle Times: In an extraordinary series of tableaux that are alternately idyllic and severe, Sweetgrass defies the conventions of what most of us regard as a documentary film. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Minimalist and hypnotic, a catalog of observations about the primal relationship between man and beast, and the still-daunting challenges of the Western landscape. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: If you're used to the ADD pace of modern filmmaking, Sweetgrass will probably drive you crazy. If you can adjust, it could widen your soul. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: It may not be your thing, but Sweetgrass is unlike anything you'll see in a theater this year. It bravely strays from the flock. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: This slyly transcendental documentary consists of long, mostly wordless takes of sheep, cowboys, and the divine Montana mountains they wander through for 200 miles. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Sweetgrass is an unexpectedly intoxicating documentary, unexpected because it blends high artistic standards with the grueling reality of one of the toughest, most exhausting of work environments. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: The filmmakers' motivation couldn't be clearer: They needed to capture a way of life that may soon exist only on film and in memory. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: Castaing-Taylor's lensing -- from sheep staring into a camera to panoramic views of the gorgeous landscape -- is pleasing to the eye. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Memorably captures a dying way of American life, a marvelously untrammeled American landscape and at least two animals -- men and sheep -- that despite their millennia-long domestic relationship still have a spark of wildness in them. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: What starts out looking like a 4H film soon develops narrative power, and a rough natural humor. You'll be hearing bleating in your sleep for days, which is more pleasant than it sounds. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Leaves behind the domain of ethnography and becomes a work of art. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Filmmakers Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor rigorously follow the cinema-verite creed: no sonorous Morgan Freeman voiceovers, no explanatory intertitles until the finale, just carefully observed reality. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Instead of rounding up information, this documentary about an arduous sheep drive across Montana is driven by the beauty of the landscape. Read more

Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail: There are audience rewards for sticking with the herd and its lonesome cowboys. Read more

Jason Anderson, Toronto Star: If there's anything we can learn from the creatures here, it's that any day in which you don't get stripped of your coat or eaten by a bear is probably a good one. Read more

Ronnie Scheib, Variety: Sweetgrass showcases an elemental intimacy between man and animal. Read more

Melissa Anderson, Village Voice: Though the breathtaking vistas of Big Sky Country in Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor's unforgettable sheep-herding documentary come close to heaven, it's telling that AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" can be faintly heard. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: It's a gorgeous and, believe it or not, riveting documentary...about sheep. Read more