- Manufactured Landscapes
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Manufactured Landscapes Directed by Jennifer Baichwal Produced by Nick de Pencier
Daniel Iron
Jennifer BaichwalStarring Edward Burtynsky Music by Dan Driscoll Cinematography Peter Mettler Editing by Roland Schlimme Release date(s) 9 September 2006(Toronto International Film Festival) Running time 90 minutes Country Canada Language English
FrenchManufactured Landscapes is a 2006 documentary film about the work of photographer Edward Burtynsky. It was directed by Jennifer Baichwal and is distributed by Zeitgeist Films.
Contents
Subject matter
Many of Burtynsky's photographs feature landscapes of areas transformed by human activity.
Awards
- Best Documentary – 2007 Genie Awards[1]
- Best Canadian Film – Toronto International Film Festival[1]
- Best Canadian Film & Best Documentary - Toronto Film Critics Association Awards[1]
- Nominated for Grand Jury Prize - 2007 Sundance Film Festival[1]
- Won the Reel Current Award (presented by Al Gore) - 2007 Nashville Film Festival
Critical reception
As of August 19, 2007, the film had an average score of 80% on Metacritic based on 15 reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes 83% of critics had given the film a "fresh" rating based on 56 reviews (47 fresh, 9 rotten).
Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an "A" and said "The opening tracking shot through a Chinese factory where 23,000 employees make most of the world's irons is a stunner."[2] The review that appeared in the Boston Globe said the film "begs to be hung on the wall, studied, absorbed, and learned from" and also "Taken as a whole, Manufactured Landscapes is a mesmerizing work of visual oncology, a witness to a cancer that's visible only at a distance but entwined with the DNA of everything we buy and everywhere we shop."[3] Ken Fox of TV Guide gave the film four stars and said "Jennifer Baichwal's important, disquieting documentary offers the strongest reminder since Born into Brothels that art can serve a crucial, consciousness raising purpose.[4] Kenneth Baker of the San Francisco Chronicle said "the viewer soon realizes that [Baichwal] shares Burtynsky's astonishment and concern over the scale, tempo and irreversibility of postmodern humanity's global frenzy of production and consumption", and also that the film "leaves its audience with many troubling questions."[5] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune praised the opening shot, but said "the rest of director Baichwal's picture feels constrained and rather dutiful, no matter how passionate these people are about what they're observing."[6]
Ella Taylor of LA Weekly named it the 2nd best film of 2007 (tying with The Host), and Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal named it the 8th best film of 2007.[7]
References
- ^ a b c d "www.edwardburtynsky.com". http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
- ^ Lisa Schwarzbaum (2007-06-20). "Manufactured Landscapes – Movie Review". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20043128,00.html. Retrieved 2007-08-19.
- ^ "An eloquent ecological warning". Boston Globe. 2007-06-22. http://www.boston.com/movies/display?display=movie&id=9921. Retrieved 2007-08-19.
- ^ Ken Fox. "Manufactured Landscapes Review". TVGuide.com. http://www.tvguide.com/movies/manufactured-landscapes/review/288747. Retrieved 2007-08-19.
- ^ Kenneth Baker (2007-07-20). "FILM CLIPS / Also opening today". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/20/DDGHQR324E1.DTL#flick. Retrieved 2007-08-19.
- ^ Michael Phillips (2007-07-27). "Movie review: 'Manufactured Landscapes'". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 2007-11-22. http://web.archive.org/web/20071122162849/http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/mmx-070727-movies-review-landscapes,0,4272871.story?coll=mmx-movies_top_heds. Retrieved 2007-08-19.
- ^ "Metacritic: 2007 Film Critic Top Ten Lists". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2008-01-02. http://web.archive.org/web/20080102102034/http://www.metacritic.com/film/awards/2007/toptens.shtml. Retrieved 2008-01-05.
External links
Categories:- 2006 films
- Canadian films
- Documentary films about globalization
- English-language films
- National Film Board of Canada documentaries
- Genie Award winners for Best Documentary Film
- Canadian documentary films
- Documentary films about photographers
- 2000s documentary films
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