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Candace Evanofski, Donald Holden, Paul Schneider, Curtis Cotton III, Rachel Handy ... see more see more... , Damien Jewan Lee , Scott Clackum , Eddie Rouse , Damian Jewan Lee , Rachael Handy

David Gordon directs this bleak drama about a gang of rural teens going astray. The title character is 13-year-old boy who lives in an impoverished corner of North Carolina. While wandering around wit... read more read more...h his rag-tag band of mates, one boy gets inadvertently killed. Fearing parental retribution, the gang hides the body. Later, matters comes to a head when guilt and anxiety starts to take its toll. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

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85% liked it

5,530 ratings

Critics

83% liked it

59 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 29 min.

Directed by: David Gordon Green, David Green

Release Date: October 27, 2000

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DVD Release Date: March 12, 2002

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George Washington down this twisted road please watch over my soul
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Flixster Reviews (409)

  • brooklynspo
    April 19, 2007
    brooklynspo
    Interesting tone piece on the inner lives of children. Maybe sort of like if Terrence Malick directed the Spirit of the Beehive in recent rural North Carolina - but not as good as that sounds - if that actually sounds good to you.
  • blkbomb
    January 2, 2012
    blkbomb
    Nasia: Sometimes I smile and laugh when I think of all the great things you're gonna do. I hope you live forever. 

    "down this twisted road, please watch over my soul and lift me up so gently so as not to touch the ground."

    David Gordon Green's debut feature, George Washington, ... read moreis immensely different from the films he's been putting out for the last few years. He's been putting out stoner, sex comedies like Pineapple Express, Your Highness, and The Sitter. George Washington couldn't be less like those movies. It is as far away from comedy as you can be. It's a slow and sad film from a child, Nasia's, point of view. She narrates the story of George, and how he and a couple of friends accidentally killed their friend Buddy. From that point on, these kids aren't really kids any more. The innocence of childhood has left them.

    If you want poignant storytelling, George Washington is your film. It's a movie where you can feel for a character, that something awful has happened to. George isn't a bad, rebellious youth, as a lot of these types of films use. He's a good kid, who is in a poor area, around other poor kids. He has a disease that doesn't allow him to get his head wet, and a little bump on the head could kill him. He's limited in what he can do with his friends. 

    You can feel the scene where everything turns about five minutes before it happens. When the scene is occurring, you know this is where the tragedy is going to occur. David Gordon Green does the tragic scene the realistic and proper way. Stuff like this doesn't occur like it does in most movies. There's no suspenseful music before hand, there's no slow motion while it's going on, there's no crazy freakout rant afterwards. When a tragic event occurs, you are stunned, and you do what these kids do. You sit down on the ground and stare, until one of you can get up the courage to make a decision what to do next.

    I can best describe this Indie movie, by saying it resembles the same feel of a Gus Van Sant indie. There's a bunch of no name actors, that don't really try to act. They perform like real people. They occasionally will make mistakes when they talk and stutter over words, trying to find the right thing to say. Gus Van Sant did Paranoid Park like six or seven years after this, and the two are quite alike. Paranoid Park went a different route in the aftermath of the accident, but the lead up is a lot alike. 

    George Washington isn't a film that is for everyone. You may end up finding it too slow or too boring. You may feel that it doesn't quite go anywhere plot wise. But if you like understated, subtle dramas, give it a watch. It just may blow you away.
  • fb1664868775
    October 30, 2011
    fb1664868775
    A startling poetic film.
  • ceWEBrity
    May 4, 2010
    ceWEBrity
    Strongly reminiscent of Jarmusch, only much more youthful and a little more concerned with creating a publicly digestible style. This looks, sounds and plays like a pretty typical indie of the time (and at $42,000, you'd damn best believe this is an indie), but though you could p... read morerobably fault him for his originality his taste is impeccable. The exploration of impoverished, rural black youth and the heavy wall-of-sound mood are two great tastes that taste great together. This was reiterated by Half Nelson six years later, which I wasn't quite as taken with but which I often feel I owe a second chance. Nothing in George Washington jumps off the screen, but it's wistful and humorous and sometimes depressing, and makes for a bizarre and generally effective coming of age story. The acting is naturalistic and fits in well with the at-all-costs realism of the filming, amateurish line flubs and all. I don't feel that most of the characters ever truly come alive - George comes close, but in the end remains a mystery, as I'm sure he'd like to be. Like Aronofsky and Nolan, it's easy to see why this inspired confidence in David Gordon Green's future investors; the man can take a dime and turn it into treasure. Definitely worth watching.
  • YLOWBSTARDreturns
    February 9, 2008
    YLOWBSTARDreturns
    A masterpiece.
  • sanjurosamurai
    December 21, 2007
    sanjurosamurai
    this is a really good movie. deep and profound, this film chronicles the stories of confused kids that appear to be looking for nothing, when really they desire a salvation that they think they have to earn. this film blends heart breaking drama and hilarious humor perfectly, m... read moreaking me laugh out loud one moment only to be haunted by the harsh realities of life the next. george is my hero.
  • smootysveen
    December 5, 2010
    smootysveen
    "like he was physically insane...using the restroom...everywhere."
  • mattsigur1
    August 6, 2010
    mattsigur1
    Some scenes in here are stretching for Malick-like greatness. Some scenes almost achieve it. The kid who plays Vernon is a natural.
    Look, David Gordon Green either has a lot of happy accidents in this film or he has a natural eye. You're in one of two camps. I'm in the latter. T... read morehough, this movie is sort of unrealistic and has an unsatisfying ending.
  • mvieaddict
    July 12, 2009
    mvieaddict
    Don't look for a simple or strong plot line to what you think could be the problems in this film. "George Washington" was kinda similar to the film Stand by Me" but the dialog in this film was often beyond the age and character. The scoring was dark and moody and rarely lights u... read morep. On occasion, the lack of actor training was seen in the kids, but for the most part they did a good job. The locations were full of dying and dead culture mostly an Industrial place.This was a heavy, sometimes overly artful film that was worth seeing and considering after wards. It had things to say, and you were expected to use your mind. Not my type of film. Undertow for me was way better.
  • Dracula787
    March 14, 2008
    Dracula787
    Intrigued by the trailers and reviews of the movie Snow Angels, I decided now was a good time to give David Gordon Green another chance. I got off on the wrong foot with this independent auteur, as the first time I saw George Washington it didn?t interest me at all. The film ma... read morekes a lot more sense to me now that I?ve had a lot more exposure to non-narrative cinema. The film?s true strength is its ability to capture a certain place and tone in a fairly profound way. The cinematography is really beautiful.

    Many compare the filmmaking here to Terrence Malick, which makes sense, but a movie it really reminds me of is Peter Bogdanovich?s The Last Picture Show. Like that film there is a certain hopelessness at the film?s center, a feeling that there?s not much of a future for these children caught in the poor side of a small North Carolina town. Unlike the Bogdanovich film, these kids aren?t old enough to know this, which is why the film is a lot more subtle about this fact, but later in the film this begins to dawn on some of them.

    The fact is, twelve year olds don?t interest me much, which is why I wasn?t impressed by this at first. Truth be told, I didn?t really love it this time either, but unlike my first viewing I do respect the film now and see that my lack of enthusiasm has less to do with the quality of Green?s work and more to do with my own interests. I still don?t love this film, but I do now have a deep respect for the work and can?t wait to see what Green can do with subjects that interest me more.

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Critic Reviews

Jonathan Rosenbaum
July 18, 2007
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

You have to bring a lot of yourself to this film if you want it to give something back, but the rewards are considerable. Full Review

Joe Leydon
July 18, 2007
Joe Leydon, Variety

Undistinguished and uninvolving attempt to offer a rural spin on Kids. Full Review

Eric Harrison
July 21, 2005
Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle

It's possible to keep one's feet on the ground and still appreciate the film's quiet verbal and visual poetry. Full Review

Peter Rainer
September 26, 2002
Peter Rainer, New York Magazine

A gracious sleepwalk of a movie that could have used a firmer strut. Full Review

Kevin Thomas
August 15, 2002
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

One of the most striking and affecting American independent films of the year, heralding the arrival of a formidable young talent in Green. Full Review

Rick Groen
March 19, 2002
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

Brave and thoughtful and aesthetically pleasing. Full Review

Peter Travers
May 10, 2001
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

A work of startling originality that will haunt you for a good, long time.

Roger Ebert
February 14, 2001
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

It remembers a summer that was not a happy summer, but there will never again be a summer so intensely felt, so alive, so valuable. Full Review

Mick LaSalle
February 14, 2001
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Not like any other movie. That, in itself, makes it something to see. Full Review

Paul Tatara
January 1, 2000
Paul Tatara, CNN.com

It offers a generous amount of treasures, if you summon the patience to sit through it. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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