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Beyond Utopia

2023

Madeleine Gavin

Documentary

7.0

306

Documentary Families as they attempt to escape oppression, revealing a world most people have never seen.

	Media	Author	Review
		Lena Wilson The Playlist	"By expertly weaving together archival footage, animation, hidden camera video and original interviews (...) Gavin shows the heartbreaking reality facing those in one of the most oppressive countries in the world"
		Fionnuala Halligan Screendaily	"[It] is a gripping, moving, sweatily tense documentary (...) Madeleine Gavin has done an exceptional job in pulling the disparate pieces of this film together
		Owen Gleiberman Variety	"A staggering look at the nightmare of North Korea, and some brave souls who try to escape it (...) Madeleine Gavin's remarkable film documents life inside the totalitarian cult state"
		Daniel Fienberg The Hollywood Reporter	"An intimate, real-life geopolitical thriller (...) A documentary about the making of 'Beyond Utopia' would be as gripping as 'Beyond Utopia'"
		Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"Nail-biting account of how to get out of North Korea (...) an outstanding documentary (...) An outstanding documentary. (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Derek Smith Slant	"A searing look at efforts to escape oppression in North Korea (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"
		Mark Jenkins The Washington Post	"This engrossing documentary, which follows a family’s flight from North Korea, plays like a horror film, except the horrors are real (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"
		Glenn Kenny rogerebert.com	"The evidence of the awful situation she presents is more than harrowing (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"
		Phil de Semlyen Time Out	"This terrific documentary about North Korean defectors is as gripping as any spy thriller (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		John Serba Decider	"[It] is hands-down one of the best documentaries of 2023"
		Brian Tallerico rogerebert.com	"Instantly essential"
		Wendy Ide The Guardian	"A fraught, compelling watch (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Christian Zilko IndieWire	"[The] existence [of films like 'Beyond Utopia'] is a miracle, and we need to cherish every one we get"
		Ben Pearson SlashFilm	"A jaw-dropping documentary about escape from North Korea"
		Robert Abele Los Angeles Times	"The film is inspiring about the lengths people will go to for a better life"
		Ben Kenigsberg The New York Times	"Being able to experience the escape alongside these subjects greatly distinguishes this documentary"
		Edward Porter The Sunday Times	"It's all interesting to varying degrees (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Michael Frank The Film Stage	"A must-see historical and human document"
		Kevin Maher The Times	"It's almost indecently gripping, filmed as it happens and assembled by the director Madeleine Gavin with a consummate sense of structural rhythm and emotional power. A standout (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Laura Rutkowski Radio Times	"Dramatic reconstructions play no part in this shocking and vital work, lending it a gripping immediacy as it sheds light on the stories that are normally hidden under the cover of darkness (...) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"

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