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Cinema Verite

TV-14 2011 1h 30m Drama List
61% Tomatometer 41 Reviews 60% Audience Score 500+ Ratings
In the 1970s Bill Loud (Tim Robbins) and his wife, Pat (Diane Lane), allow cameras to film their personal lives for the PBS series "An American Family." Read More Read Less
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Cinema Verite

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Cinema Verite

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Critics Consensus

Cinema Verite is a disappointingly incurious dive into the birth of reality television, but terrific performances and the inherent intrigue behind the making of An American Family keep this drama compelling.

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Critics Reviews

View All (41) Critics Reviews
Andrew Billen Times (UK) The film's real fascination is with the documentary's maker, Craig Gilbert, played with wonderful faux innocence by James Gandolfini. Jun 10, 2020 Full Review Julie Hinds San Jose Mercury News Like a history lesson in the genre that's taken over so much of cable and broadcast network programming. It's also the sort of intelligent drama that has to compete with the cheaper, flashier shows that An American Family eventually spawned. Jun 10, 2020 Full Review Matt Zoller Seitz Salon.com Cinema Verite is smart and often moving, but unsatisfying overall. It compresses seven months of shooting, 3,000 hours of raw footage, and 12 hours' worth of televised story into a little over 90 minutes, losing complexity along the way. Jun 10, 2020 Full Review Jeff Simon Buffalo News Cinema Verite turns into quite a powerful film when it's able to air the complexities and implications of a story that TV originally left out. Jun 8, 2020 Full Review David Zurawik Baltimore Sun This is one of those productions that reminds you what a special place HBO holds in our culture as TV that makes you think. Jun 8, 2020 Full Review Kirsty Harrison TheShiznit.co.uk It's difficult to watch the innocence of a family be exploited, but at the same time fascinating to see how fragile marriage and family can be when it's held up for scrutiny. Jun 8, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (85) audience reviews
dave s It's an interesting premise, but at the same time the whole thing feels a bit unsatisfying. Based on actual events, TV producer Craig Gilbert (James Gandolfini) convinces Pat and Bill Loud (Diane Lane, Tim Robbins) to allow a camera crew to film the day-to-day activity within their family in order to capture a slice of life of the typical American family. The end result is the aptly named PBS show, and probably the first reality TV show, The American Family. Despite the stellar cast, it feels like the actors are reading their lines off of a teleprompter, possibly the fault of a predictable script that doesn't seem to have much in the way of fresh or original dialogue. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member I liked this movie, it was a made for t.v. movie for HBO based on the Loud family. One of the first ever reality show/reality families that ever was on t.v. Very interesting good acting, well known actors under rated movie in my opinion, I'd watch it again if it was ever on t.v. again. Before this movie I never heard of the Loud family when this came out PBS I believe was showing the original show and selling it on d.v.d. You can maybe get it or watch it online good movie docu. based movie. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Audience Member Good performances from both Lane and Gandolfini reaching towards the final act of the realistically comparable reception, but they werenâ(TM)t enough when following the forced treatment in akin to Lifetime's "Unauthorized Story" series that needs little stronger credibility to present convincing accuracy around the melodrama by further documentation that were available. (C+) Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Audience Member Topic is good but the movie consists of a lot of cringy moments Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Audience Member Entre lo publico y lo privado... Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review jack c Somewhere between Maysles and Jersey Shore, you find Craig Gilbert Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Cinema Verite

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Cinema Verite

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Movie Info

Synopsis In the 1970s Bill Loud (Tim Robbins) and his wife, Pat (Diane Lane), allow cameras to film their personal lives for the PBS series "An American Family."
Director
Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Producer
Karyn McCarthy
Screenwriter
David Seltzer
Production Co
HBO Films
Rating
TV-14
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
May 22, 2016
Runtime
1h 30m
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