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The Hottest Augustdocumentary

2019

Documentary

Documentary During all of August 2017, Brett Story wandered the five boroughs of New York City asking ordinary people about their lives and their fears for the future.

	Media	Author	Review
		Christopher Gray Slant	"A rich patchwork of discontented voices (...) While there are moments of grace and whimsy in here (...) the documentary represents a city ground down by inequality and division (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"
		Sam Adams Slate	"Even face to face with a bleak future, 'The Hottest August' is steeped in that kind of delight, the kind that reminds us that there’s beauty in the world, and a future that’s worth fighting for."
		Robert Abele Los Angeles Times	"The bid for a wandering poetry in the pulse of a people is understandable, and at times effectively suggested by her elegant imagemaking (...) But sometimes an experiment feels like just an experiment"
		Ignatiy Vishnevetsky AV Club	"While it never feels completely defeatist, her film offers scattered snapshots of an uncertain society in its dog days."
		Caryn James The Hollywood Reporter	"'The Hottest August' is ambitious and carefully thought-through, but its scattershot, no-context approach undermines it in the end."
		Norman Wilner Now Toronto	"[It] creates an evocative picture of systems breaking down and a city bracing itself for whatever comes next"
		Abby Olcese SlashFilm	"The observational elements of 'The Hottest August' are as excellent as anything this extremely promising filmmaker has done, but it’s to an uncertain end."
		Peter Debruge Variety	"Most climate change documentaries approach the issue from a place of hysteria, overwhelming audiences with statistics and doom-and-gloom scenarios, whereas 'Story' attempts to reframe the subject from a different perspective."

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