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The Windmill Movie

Play trailer Poster for The Windmill Movie 2008 1h 22m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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86% Tomatometer 21 Reviews 67% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
A profile reveals Dick Rogers' quest to leave a legacy.
The Windmill Movie

What to Know

Critics Consensus

A haunting hybrid of documentary and fiction, The Windmill Movie presents a thoroughly unique and utterly compelling glimpse of a filmmaker's final days.

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Critics Reviews

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Joe Williams St. Louis Post-Dispatch 09/30/2009
3/4
Late in this meandering film, Rogers' romantic infidelities and the onset of illness add some much-needed dynamics, but even when it's just shooting the breeze, The Windmill Movie is captivating. Go to Full Review
John Hartl Seattle Times 07/23/2009
3/4
Although the format will be familiar to fans of Tarnation and Capturing the Friedmans, the result comes closer to Fellini's autobiographical 8 1/2. Go to Full Review
Wesley Morris Boston Globe 07/16/2009
3.5/4
A remarkable documentary attempt to reconcile Rogers's sense of personal, professional, and artistic malaise, which culminated in his decades-long attempt to make a film about his life. Go to Full Review
Jennifer Merin About.com 03/19/2011
4/5
In embracing Richard Rogers' style and adopting his tone, Alexander Olch creates a documentary that's as much a respectful, moving tribute to Rogers, as it is the projected realization of Rogers' intended cinematic autobiography. Go to Full Review
Stan Hall Oregonian 07/31/2009
This movie should be unbearable; instead it's grotesquely fascinating. Rogers' striking early short Quarry precedes the main feature, demonstrating the man's considerable talent. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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04/29/2016 Even when it feels like it is just a meandering, self-indulgent mess -- there is something interesting that refuses to allow you to walk away. By the time Alexander Olch begins to form all of Dick P. Rogers' footage into a meaningful meditation on his life I was completely captivated. It is a slight of two hands -- one belonging to the artist who shot the footage and the second belonging to the artist who was once a student of the first. There is a sadness that looms over it all, but there is also a constant feeling of hope that never dies. See more 11/22/2014 Absolutely terrible. See more 08/18/2011 Fascinating movie about a man incapable of making a movie. Very cool how they tried to piece all the footage together and how compelling yet melancholy as well. See more 08/23/2009 Voyeuristic and individually reflective, The Windmill Movie allows us to observe a prominent experimental filmmaker's life and the burdens he [Richard Rogers] confronted with his art and future. Alexander Olch does an excellent job of piecing together The Windmill Movie, allowing us to question our own ideologies while observing Rogers' fragmented world set in the lush Hamptons. The finished documentary is strikingly compelling and unique. See more 07/01/2009 I don’t know if you can get more “meta” than this film – a movie about a guy making a movie who spent his entire life making a movie that was never finished and is “finished” here ... yeah, read it again slowly. If anything, this film just made me realize that envy isn’t always a vice, sometimes it can actually be a virtue. I feel like this movie has been done before better but no examples are jumping to mind. Self-indulgent on both Olch's and Rogers' part. See more 06/24/2009 This may well be the best film I have ever seen. At times during the showing I was close to panicking. It was that powerful and inspiring and mind blowing. I cannot recommend this film highly enough. See more Read all reviews
The Windmill Movie

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Movie Info

Synopsis A profile reveals Dick Rogers' quest to leave a legacy.
Director
Alexander Olch
Producer
Andrew Fierberg, David Grubin, Susan Meiselas
Screenwriter
Alexander Olch
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (DVD)
Mar 22, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA)
$27.4K
Runtime
1h 22m