Review of The Arbor (2010) by Nick D — 30 Dec 2011
Thank God for subtitles, otherwise I would have had even less an idea what was happening in this gritty docudrama about the work and life of working class playwright Dunbar (whom I had never heard of before).
The gimmick here, which franklly, would have been entirely below the radar without the title card explaining it, is that what sort of appears to be a documentary is actually actors performing a script taken from interviews of the actual people.
Verisimilitude it's got, and for a while there's a fascinating in the sheer nastiness of these folks living in public housing. But I found myself drifting after we learn of Dunbar's death, as the story slogs through the damage of her offspring, relatives, friends and the like.
An overblown experiment in undernourished narrative.
This review of The Arbor (2010) was written by Nick D on 30 Dec 2011.
The Arbor has generally received very positive reviews.
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