Give Me Liberty (2019 film)

Give Me Liberty is a 2019 American comedy drama directed by Kirill Mikhanovsky. The film had its world premiere on the opening night of the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2019.[3] The film had its world premiere in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.[4][5]

Give Me Liberty
US film poster
Directed byKirill Mikhanovsky
Written byAlice Austen
Kirill Mikhanovsky
Produced byVal Abel
Alice Austen
Wally Hall
StarringChris Galust
Lauren "Lolo" Spencer
Maxim Stoyanov
Darya Ekamasova
Zoya Makhlina
Sheryl Sims-Daniels
Anna Maltova
Arkady Basin
Steve Wolski
Michelle Casper
Ben Derfel
CinematographyWyatt Garfield
Edited byKirill Mikhanovsky
Distributed byMusic Box Films
Wild Bunch SA
Release dates
  • January 24, 2019 (2019-01-24) (Sundance)
  • August 23, 2019 (2019-08-23) (US)
Running time
111 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
Russian
Box office$624,152[1][2]

The film stars Chris Galust, Lauren "Lolo" Spencer, and Maxim Stoyanov.

Summary

The film follows medical transport driver Vic as he shuttles his Russian grandfather and émigré friends to a funeral.

Cast
  • Chris Galust as Vic
  • Lauren "Lolo" Spencer as Tracy
  • Maxim Stoyanov as Dima
  • Darya Ekamasova as Sasha
  • Zoya Makhlina as Vic's Mom
  • Sheryl Sims-Daniels as Tracy's Mom
  • Anna Maltova as Anna
  • Arkady Basin as Vic's Grandpa
  • Michael Earvin as the Cadillac Man

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 89% based on 37 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Give Me Liberty expertly juggles resonant themes and a madcap series of events to produce a chaotic comedy with heart."[6]

Writing in The New York Times, Manohla Dargis described Give Me Liberty as “a jolt of a movie, an anarchic deadpan comedy that evolves into a romance just around the time the story explodes…It’s irresistible,”[7] while Variety called it “a boisterous, free-wheeling joyride.”[8] Matt Fagerholm of RogerEbert.com described it as "electric" and "a fresh all-American crowd pleaser".[9]

Accolades

The film received four Independent Spirit Award nominations, including for Best Male Lead (Galust), Best Supporting Female Actress (Spencer), Best Editing (Mikhanovsky), and Best Feature Under $500,000 (John Cassavetes Award), winning in the last category.[10][11]

It was the winner of Macau IFF 2019 (Best International Picture).[12] It was named to the following "Best Of" lists: The Washington Post,[13] The New York Times,[14] the Los Angeles Times,[15] the National Board of Review (Top Ten Independent Films),[16] The Hollywood Reporter,[17] and RogerEbert.com (Sundance Best Performances).[18]

References
  1. "Give Me Liberty (2019)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
  2. "Give Me Liberty (2019)". The Numbers. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
  3. "Give Me Liberty". The Sundance Institute. Archived from the original on May 4, 2019. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  4. Keslassy, Elsa (April 4, 2019). "Cannes: Deerskin With Jean Dujardin to Open Directors' Fortnight". Variety. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  5. Goodfellow, Melanie. "Cannes Directors' Fortnight unveils genre-heavy 2019 selection". ScreenDaily. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  6. "Give Me Liberty". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  7. Dargis, Manohla (August 22, 2019). "'Give Me Liberty' Review: A Wild Ride With a Virtuoso of Chaos". The New York Times.
  8. Debruge, Peter (January 24, 2019). "Film Review: 'Give Me Liberty'". Variety.
  9. Fagerholm, Matt (August 23, 2019). "Give Me Liberty movie review". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  10. "2020 Film Independent Spirit Award Winners Announced" (Press release). Independent Spirit Awards.
  11. "Independent Spirit Awards Redresses Female Balance With Wins For Lulu Wang, Olivia Wilde & Julia Reichert – Complete Winners List". Deadline. February 8, 2020. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
  12. "'Give Me Liberty' Grabs Best Film Award in Macao". Variety. December 10, 2019. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
  13. Hornaday, Ann (December 9, 2019). "Best movies of 2019: A compelling mix of new and established voices". The Washington Post.
  14. "Best Movies of 2019". The New York Times. December 4, 2019. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
  15. "Best movies of 2019: 'Parasite,' 'Knives Out' and 18 more". Los Angeles Times. December 6, 2019. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
  16. "2019 Award Winners". National Board of Review. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
  17. McCarthy, Todd (December 12, 2019). "Hollywood Reporter Critics Pick the Best Films of 2019". The Hollywood Reporter.
  18. "The Best Performances of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival". RogerEbert.com. February 6, 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.