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What Is It?

Play trailer What Is It? 2005 1h 12m Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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50% Tomatometer 10 Reviews 54% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
A young man journeys through a bizarre land inhabited by mentally impaired people, and snails.

Critics Reviews

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Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader 11/16/2006
Glover, who appears in the film as a kind of barbarian dictator-auteur, lacks both the self-imposed ideological innocence and the talent for composing sounds and images of David Lynch. Go to Full Review
Michael Wilmington Chicago Tribune 11/16/2006
2.5/4
A shocker, but not a world-class one. Go to Full Review
Laura Kern New York Times 11/10/2006
3/5
His directorial debut, What Is It? -- which plays as part of a double bill with a live, enthusiastically performed slide show in which Mr. Glover displays pages from his recent series of books -- is just as unclassifiable as he is. Go to Full Review
Amber Wilkinson Eye for Film 12/07/2007
2/5
It isn't the blatant affronts - the aspects aimed to shock - that upset me, but the fact that the film lacks heart. Go to Full Review
Scott Foundas L.A. Weekly 12/08/2006
It's clear that [director] Glover is less interested in narrative than in rekindling a rich midnight-movie/avant-garde tradition that encompasses everything from Maya Deren and Jack Smith to Alejandro Jodorowsky and David Lynch. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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05/25/2018 Worth a single viewing. Very hard to find and watch. When I was finally able to view it I admit i was slightly disappointed. Big fan of Crispin Glover. I get the point. See more 08/26/2015 O delírio artístico de Crispin Glover (conhecido eternamente no cinema pelo personagem Mcfly de Back to the Future) certamente não é palatável às grandes massas consumidoras dos blockbusters hollywoodianos ou dos propagadores dos padrões mais moralistas difundidos pelo conservadorismo. Filme de fortes influências surrealistas, com poderosos ecos das obras de Buñuel e Jodorowsky, "What is it?" requer paciência similar ao de um homem que fita a lente de objetiva que, aos poucos, vai enfocando e produzindo uma imagem cujos componentes (ainda assim) não são formulaicos ou simplórios, mas de resolução opaca e disforme. O que soa como um número de cenas mórbidas atiradas a esmo e sem conexão ao espectador, gradativamente expõem um quebra cabeças repleto de elementos comuns fortemente distorcidos para compor uma história densa e curiosa. Glover utiliza atores com síndrome de down (algumas parecem com retardamento severo), pessoas com problemas neurológicos e dificuldades de fala, desconstrói padrões de beleza, desestigmatiza o sexo, proporciona uma releitura da violência psicológica e física interior aos diversos planos do filme, tudo de forma original e bem diferente de um clássico como Freaks, por exemplo. O filme é bastante perturbador, incomoda, e há um impressionante diálogo entre a perversidade, o lúdico, onírico, bizarro e o surreal. Vale a repetição de que não é um filme comum e provavelmente não agradará a imensa maioria do público. Mas, para os amantes do cinema de arte, vale bastante a pena uma olhadela, se você se propuser às esquisitices do filme. See more 05/14/2014 Crispin Glover was walking on the ground when he made this movie. He didn't make a sound, he in fact turned around and saw a clown. See more 05/11/2014 Viewed this film in Asbury Park NJ; great film. See more 09/12/2012 I volunteered on the set of the film. watch behind the scenes footage!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqRs_x1Dryw&feature=share&list=UUxxxeVl-JFku-MzkKtX-IYQ See more 02/24/2012 I have seen "What Is It?" and I find it to be a trip down everyone's inner self that they refuse to explore.. I want to see it again! -Dawn See more Read all reviews
What Is It?

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Movie Info

Synopsis A young man journeys through a bizarre land inhabited by mentally impaired people, and snails.
Director
Crispin Glover
Screenwriter
Crispin Glover
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
English
Runtime
1h 12m