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Swoon

Play trailer Poster for Swoon 1992 1h 32m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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73% Tomatometer 11 Reviews 65% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
In a film based on actual events, teenagers Nathan Leopold Jr. (Craig Chester) and Richard Loeb (Daniel Schlachet) share a dangerous sexual bond and an amoral outlook on life. They spend afternoons breaking into storefronts and engaging in petty crimes, until the calculating Nathan ups the ante by kidnapping, and murdering, a young boy. When the body is found, all evidence leads to Nathan and Richard, whose strange relationship makes the case one of the most talked-about trials of the 1920s.
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Swoon

Critics Reviews

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Richard Brody New Yorker Kalin... infuses the story with high visual style; his spare graphic framings and joltingly oblique angles both embody the past in heightened detail and conjure the killers' recklessly aestheticizing mind-set. Jul 12, 2021 Full Review Anthony Lane Independent (UK) Swoon is too pleased with its own amoral pose; but Kalin has the same alarming assurance as his heroes, whose story has, if anything, grown in its power to shock. Jan 4, 2018 Full Review Sheila Johnston Independent (UK) An impressive debut feature from the young, independent American film-maker Tom Kalin. Nov 13, 2017 Full Review Rob Gonsalves Rob's Movie Vault An exotic mood piece, based on the infamous Leopold-Loeb case, that probably didn't win director Tom Kalin many friends in the gay community. Rated: A Apr 9, 2007 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com As a dark, moody and stylized (the film is shot in b/w) poem of love and madness Swoon is effective, but as social polemic on contemporary gay issues, it's strained; even so, it's a striking feature debut. Rated: B+ Dec 1, 2006 Full Review Linda Cook Quad City Times (Davenport, IA) Rated: 5/5 Aug 4, 2004 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Alec B Despite the arthouse trappings of the filmmaking, it is still engaging as it sees Leopold and Loeb honestly. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/21/24 Full Review Audience Member Despite the arthouse trappings of the filmmaking, it is still engaging as it sees Leopold and Loeb honestly. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Audience Member Couldn't make it past 4 minutes. Awful. Seems like a parody of an art film. You want to watch a movie about the Leopold and Loeb case watch Rope or Compulsion. Wish I could get my $3 back from Amazon. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Audience Member Moody, dispassionate take on the savagery of crime that neither illuminates nor captivates. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Audience Member Moody, dispassionate take on the savagery of crime that neither illuminates nor captivates. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member The case has been made into two previous movies - Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope" (1948) and Richard Fleisher's "Compulsion" (1959), but both to one degree or another played down the topic of homosexuality. This new version by writer-director Tom Kalin plays it up, sometimes in ways that are fairly disturbing, as when he seems to linger on the ways the dominant Loeb was able to control the more submissive Leopold by using sex as a weapon. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Swoon

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis In a film based on actual events, teenagers Nathan Leopold Jr. (Craig Chester) and Richard Loeb (Daniel Schlachet) share a dangerous sexual bond and an amoral outlook on life. They spend afternoons breaking into storefronts and engaging in petty crimes, until the calculating Nathan ups the ante by kidnapping, and murdering, a young boy. When the body is found, all evidence leads to Nathan and Richard, whose strange relationship makes the case one of the most talked-about trials of the 1920s.
Director
Tom Kalin
Production Co
American Playhouse, Killer Films
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 4, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA)
$340.1K
Runtime
1h 32m
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