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Sweetgrass

Play trailer Poster for Sweetgrass Released Jan 6, 2010 1h 42m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
98% Tomatometer 63 Reviews 65% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
This spare documentary follows a group of shepherds as they guide hundreds of sheep through endless miles of Montana wilderness. Herding the livestock through the Beartooth Mountains, the crew covers stunning landscapes as they brave dangerous weather and the threat of various wild animals, including bears and wolves. As the shepherds make their journey, the film depicts the hardships that they face in their age-old occupation, which seems largely outmoded in 21st-century United States.

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Sweetgrass

Sweetgrass

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Critics Consensus

At once tender and unsentimental, Sweetgrass gracefully captures the beauty and hardships of a dying way of life.

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Critics Reviews

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Anthony Lane The New Yorker Though the tale of these wry, hard-bitten lives is told with neither music nor a narrating voice, the final effect is not to numb or confound the viewer but, rather, to cast a spell. May 26, 2020 Full Review Kieron Corless Sight & Sound Strange to relate that one of the year's most striking cinematic experiences so far is a documentary starring 3,000 sheep. Jul 6, 2018 Full Review Nicolas Rapold Film Comment Magazine [The directors] portray something indelible by capturing the rancher's old-hand ways. Sep 24, 2014 Full Review Tom Meek Cambridge Day Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor's hypnotic look at Montana mountaintop shepherding is Wiseman-esque in its observant, non-intrusive style. Rated: 3.5/4 Nov 13, 2020 Full Review David Harris Spectrum Culture Sweetgrass' strength comes in its collection of indelible images. Rated: 3.5/5 Oct 12, 2019 Full Review Mattie Lucas From the Front Row Its simple, unassuming beauty makes for a quietly engrossing ode the the shimmering mystique of the west. Rated: 3/4 Aug 5, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member I watched this because it is a product of the same Sensory Ethnography Lab that produced Leviathan. I know the comparison is unfair, but this is no Leviathan. The most interesting camerawork is focused on the sheep, and some of it is genuinely great. The film is more banal when it focuses on the cowboys, but perhaps that's the point. There is one cursing tirade that almost makes up for all that though. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review Audience Member You know, for a documentary with no voiceover about sheep farming in Montana, it's not bad... Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/10/23 Full Review Audience Member Much of the first part of the film is dialogue free, but the stunning scenery throughout means this matters little, the story of sheep-sherding doesn't sound that interesting, but it is a fascinating window on the world. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member Beautiful landscapes and the white ocean of bleating sheep make this an addictive one Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member Very good, UNTIL the herder smacks his horse on the Face!! OMG, what a macho, abusive loser!! Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member Amazing. A bunch of cowboys (sheepboys?) take hundreds of sheep up to the tops of the Beartooth Mountains for summer pasture, for the very last time, in 2003. Beautifully filmed and edited, the tale tells itself with no externals such as narration or music. They have a really hard time, then drive those sheep back down the mountains in the autumn. Thoroughly absorbing. Shown on Film 4 some months ago. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Sweetgrass

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Cast & Crew

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Lucien Castaing-Taylor

Director

Illisa Barbash

Director

Ilisa Barbash

Producer

Lucien Castaing-Taylor

Cinematographer

Ilisa Barbash

Film Editing

Lucien Castaing-Taylor

Film Editing

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Sweetgrass

Sweetgrass (2009) Sweetgrass (2009) Sweetgrass (2009) Sweetgrass (2009) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis This spare documentary follows a group of shepherds as they guide hundreds of sheep through endless miles of Montana wilderness. Herding the livestock through the Beartooth Mountains, the crew covers stunning landscapes as they brave dangerous weather and the threat of various wild animals, including bears and wolves. As the shepherds make their journey, the film depicts the hardships that they face in their age-old occupation, which seems largely outmoded in 21st-century United States.
Director
Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Illisa Barbash
Producer
Ilisa Barbash
Distributor
Cinema Guild
Production Co
Grasshopper Film
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 6, 2010, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 17, 2020
Box Office (Gross USA)
$206.7K
Runtime
1h 42m
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