Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

Onlookers

Play trailer 1:55 Poster for Onlookers Released Feb 16 1h 12m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
75% Tomatometer 12 Reviews Popcornmeter 0 Ratings
ONLOOKERS offers a visually striking, immersive meditation on travel and tourism in Laos, reflecting on how we all live as observers. Traversing the country's dusty roads and tranquil rivers, we watch as elaborate painterly tableaus unfold, revealing the whimsical and at times disruptive interweaving of locals and foreigners in rest and play. Drawn to spectacle, tourists swarm to magnificent Buddhist temples, the ordered rituals of monks, and sites of dazzling natural beauty, then recede like a passing tide, leaving Laotians to continue with their daily lives. ONLOOKERS transports viewers on a sensorial journey of deep looking and listening, inviting audiences to reflect on their own modes of tourism, while asking the looming existential questions: Why do we travel? What do we seek?

Critics Reviews

View All (12) Critics Reviews
Glenn Kenny RogerEbert.com I myself got enough out of “Onlookers” that I don’t ultimately feel it belongs in the “For Avant-Garde Documentary Lovers” category exclusively. Rated: 2.5/4 Feb 16, 2024 Full Review Ben Kenigsberg New York Times This is a concept in search of a movie, and an academic exercise that doesn’t give observers much to work with. Feb 15, 2024 Full Review Eileen G'Sell Hyperallergic Immersive, beguiling, and productively unsettling, "Onlookers" confronts the power of the wealthy, predominantly White and Western tourist gaze to intrude on and warp its surroundings. Oct 21, 2024 Full Review Paul Emmanuel Enicola The Movie Buff Examines the effects of tourism in a country steeped in culture and tradition through a collage of video clips with almost no dialogue—giving the film an immersive quality that’s not only interactive, but also incisive. Rated: B Jul 7, 2024 Full Review Sean Gilman The Chinese Cinema The most wonderful thing about this are the subtitles. They are quite simply the most beautiful and poetic captions I’ve ever seen. Scene after scene plays out like a little haiku, adding an undeniably sardonic and wistful edge to this very playful film. Jun 10, 2024 Full Review Dennis Harvey 48 Hills The result is an intriguing if curiously neutral essay from which you can draw your own conclusions…or none at all. Feb 26, 2024 Full Review Read all reviews
Onlookers

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

Show Less Cast & Crew Show More Cast & Crew

More Like This

View All Best Movies to Stream at Home
Made in Ethiopia % % Made in Ethiopia Watchlist My Memory Is Full of Ghosts % % My Memory Is Full of Ghosts Watchlist Angel Applicant 100% % Angel Applicant Watchlist There Was, There Was Not % % There Was, There Was Not Watchlist TRAILER for There Was, There Was Not TWST - Things We Said Today % % TWST - Things We Said Today Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More
View All videos

Onlookers

Onlookers: Trailer 1 Onlookers: Trailer 1 1:55 View more videos
View All Onlookers photos

Onlookers

View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis ONLOOKERS offers a visually striking, immersive meditation on travel and tourism in Laos, reflecting on how we all live as observers. Traversing the country's dusty roads and tranquil rivers, we watch as elaborate painterly tableaus unfold, revealing the whimsical and at times disruptive interweaving of locals and foreigners in rest and play. Drawn to spectacle, tourists swarm to magnificent Buddhist temples, the ordered rituals of monks, and sites of dazzling natural beauty, then recede like a passing tide, leaving Laotians to continue with their daily lives. ONLOOKERS transports viewers on a sensorial journey of deep looking and listening, inviting audiences to reflect on their own modes of tourism, while asking the looming existential questions: Why do we travel? What do we seek?
Director
Kimi Takesue
Producer
Kimi Takesue
Production Co
KimiKat Productions
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Feb 16, 2024, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Feb 23, 2024
Runtime
1h 12m