IMDb RATING
5.6/10
4.7K
YOUR RATING
When a college professor confronts two hunters she catches trespassing on her property, she's drawn into an escalating battle of wills with catastrophic consequences.When a college professor confronts two hunters she catches trespassing on her property, she's drawn into an escalating battle of wills with catastrophic consequences.When a college professor confronts two hunters she catches trespassing on her property, she's drawn into an escalating battle of wills with catastrophic consequences.
- Director
- Writers
- Stars
- Awards
- 4 wins & 4 nominations total
Steven Brian Conard
- Tree Farm Owner
- (as Steven Conard)
- Director
- Writers
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Summary
Reviewers say 'God's Country' delves into racism, sexism, and societal injustice through a college professor's clash with local hunters. Thandiwe Newton's performance is lauded for its depth. The film's slow-burn narrative and cinematography are praised, yet some find the pacing and storytelling lacking. Its ending and moral ambiguities elicit mixed reactions, with some appreciating complexity and others finding it unsatisfying. Overall, 'God's Country' is viewed as a thought-provoking, albeit uneven, exploration of social issues and personal conflict.
Featured reviews
I get it. You should stand for something rather than fall for anything. Still, this lady was really pushing the envelope by escalating everything. I mean she was really asking for it. She broke more laws than the aggressors. Ironically, her past job should have gave her insight and made her smarter about it. Honestly, I don't know what the moral of this story is. I feel she should have put up a fence or moved. Why would any single woman live in the most remote area knowing there are few law enforcement to provide protection.? She had to have known how risky this would be. I'm a guy and even I wouldn't feel comfortable living in the middle of nowhere alone. To top it off, she threw her only friend under the bus. This is like watching any vigilante movie where the bad guys were not as aggressive as the vigilante. I dunno....
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"God's Country features a remarkable lead performance from Thandiwe Newton, but the unfocused, predictable screenplay makes this film too dull to remember. Technically, it's one of the strongest movies of the festival. Gorgeous cinematography, sweet score, gripping atmosphere -- it holds the essential technical ingredients for a great film.
However, by attempting to tackle many different subject matters, Julian Higgins isn't able to properly concentrate and exceptionally develop a single one. In addition to this, the protagonist carries relatable motivations, but her consequent actions feel contradictory. The racism and sexism that she has to deal with are real, but her way of confronting these situations is far from exemplary.
Finally, the impactful ending beautifully works in theory, but since everything plot-wise is so unsurprising and slow-paced, the viewers will probably feel too tired to care by the end."
Rating: C.
"God's Country features a remarkable lead performance from Thandiwe Newton, but the unfocused, predictable screenplay makes this film too dull to remember. Technically, it's one of the strongest movies of the festival. Gorgeous cinematography, sweet score, gripping atmosphere -- it holds the essential technical ingredients for a great film.
However, by attempting to tackle many different subject matters, Julian Higgins isn't able to properly concentrate and exceptionally develop a single one. In addition to this, the protagonist carries relatable motivations, but her consequent actions feel contradictory. The racism and sexism that she has to deal with are real, but her way of confronting these situations is far from exemplary.
Finally, the impactful ending beautifully works in theory, but since everything plot-wise is so unsurprising and slow-paced, the viewers will probably feel too tired to care by the end."
Rating: C.
This movie is essentially an art house upsell of something like I Spit On Your Grave. About 30 or 40 minutes into it, when the professor meets one of the hunters in the little church and finds common ground with him (I won't spoil how) I thought the movie might turn into something redemptive for both of these characters. Nothing doing. Instead of such a turn, it devolves into stereotype and cliché, and exactly the end you could predict. You want Trump Country "deplorables" you got them. You want a clueless "woke" interloper, you got that. Yet in the end, all the issues are resolved with a shotgun, hardly any sort of politically correct finish. If the point of this movie is just an ironic play on the idea that God is nowhere to be found in that place, or in any of these people, the point is pretty overtly made. That doesn't mean it's bad or unwatchable. It's neither, but it's not gory enough to be a successful exploitation film, nor creative enough to be a true art film. It's nicely filmed and definitely conveys the damnation of its people and place through its cinematography, and while none of the main antagonist characters, as written, are deep, complex or unique, they are all well portrayed by the actors. A better example of something with a similar theme might be Wind River.
This movie is labeled as a thriller, let's not kid ourselves here it is most definately a drama and a slow one at that. The subject matter really is just a very small part of the movie and in reality this movie just becomes a slow drone about her feelings and her previous struggles and life. This may be some people's cup of tea but it cant be too many. I do not understand why people make movies this slow and think it is entertainment, the movie really does not know what direction it is heading in and quite frankly could be about 1 hour 30 minutes shorter, every scene drags on with nothing happening, it really was a bore. I will say it gets 3/10 because there is no cheese in it or plugged humour nor any far fetched plot or story so in that sense it feels real, real-ly boring... My advice avoid if you want any entertainment or interest.
Saw this back at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
Director Julian Higgins creates a movie about a grieving college professor confronts two hunters she catches trespassing on her property, she's drawn into an escalating battle of wills with catastrophic consequences. Higgins starts off with a really strong beginning and introduction to the film but after 35 minutes into the film, the movie falls apart as the story becomes really basic, generic, and dull. There are many good aspects about this film. The cinematography, the score, atmosphere, production design, and sounding was really good. It helped to add flavor to the movie but the story and bland one sided characters really made the movie suffer. The pacing of the movie becomes really uneven as it dragged the movie from exciting to boring. Actress Thandiwe Newton gives a great performance throughout the movie as she does her best to keep this movie flowing well. But the other performances are just okay and some of them are quite bad.
Some of the dialogue is very clunky. The editing choices are bland. Lastly, the ending although is quite satisfying, because of the dull storyline, the ending doesn't really feel worth it by the end of the day. Higgins has talent but this movie was just meh and forgettable.
Rating: C+
Director Julian Higgins creates a movie about a grieving college professor confronts two hunters she catches trespassing on her property, she's drawn into an escalating battle of wills with catastrophic consequences. Higgins starts off with a really strong beginning and introduction to the film but after 35 minutes into the film, the movie falls apart as the story becomes really basic, generic, and dull. There are many good aspects about this film. The cinematography, the score, atmosphere, production design, and sounding was really good. It helped to add flavor to the movie but the story and bland one sided characters really made the movie suffer. The pacing of the movie becomes really uneven as it dragged the movie from exciting to boring. Actress Thandiwe Newton gives a great performance throughout the movie as she does her best to keep this movie flowing well. But the other performances are just okay and some of them are quite bad.
Some of the dialogue is very clunky. The editing choices are bland. Lastly, the ending although is quite satisfying, because of the dull storyline, the ending doesn't really feel worth it by the end of the day. Higgins has talent but this movie was just meh and forgettable.
Rating: C+
Did you know
- TriviaBased on James Lee Burke's short story "Winter Light."
- How long is God's Country?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $493,679
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $279,928
- Sep 18, 2022
- Gross worldwide
- $493,679
- Runtime1 hour 42 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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