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Killer of Sheep

1978

Charles Burnett

Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy, Angela Burnett ...

6.9

716

Drama The first feature film from acclaimed independent African American filmmaker Charles Burnett, this intensely emotional drama concerns a man who makes his living at a slaughterhouse as he struggles for economic and emotional survival and tries to patch up his often strained relationship with his family. Shot on weekends over a period of several years, it was added to the Library of Congress' National Film Registry in 1990. Killer of ... [+]

	Author	Review
Spain	FilmAffinity	The film was chosen by the National Society of Film Critics as one of the 100 Essential Films. In 1990, Killer of Sheep was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." In 2015 the BBC named the film as the 26th greatest American movie ever made.	POS
United States	Manohla Dargis The New York Times	"An American masterpiece, independent to the bone."	POS
United States	Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly	"Way ahead of its time 30 years ago, and just as stunning today, Killer of Sheep is one of those marvels of original moviemaking that keeps hope of artistic independence alive (..) Here's to the miracle of a buried classic granted the opposite of a killing—here's to life."	POS
United States	Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times	"A timeless wonder. (...) Speaks to the enduring power of poetic cinema, of films with genuine artistic vision that create mood and capture emotion in ways only motion pictures can."	POS

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