Swoon

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Swoon

1992,

1h 32m,

Drama

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75%

12 Reviews

Tomatometer

65%

1,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

75%

Tomatometer

12 Reviews

65%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

In a film based on actual events, teenagers Nathan Leopold Jr. (Craig Chester) and Richard Loeb (Daniel Schlachet) share a dangerous sexual bond and an amoral outlook on life. They spend afternoons breaking into storefronts and engaging in petty crimes, until the calculating Nathan ups the ante by kidnapping, and murdering, a young boy. When the body is found, all evidence leads to Nathan and Richard, whose strange relationship makes the case one of the most talked-about trials of the 1920s.

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Richard Brody

The New Yorker

Jul 12, 2021

Kalin... infuses the story with high visual style; his spare graphic framings and joltingly oblique angles both embody the past in heightened detail and conjure the killers' recklessly aestheticizing mind-set.

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Anthony Lane

Independent (UK)

Jan 4, 2018

Swoon is too pleased with its own amoral pose; but Kalin has the same alarming assurance as his heroes, whose story has, if anything, grown in its power to shock.

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Sheila Johnston

Independent (UK)

Nov 13, 2017

An impressive debut feature from the young, independent American film-maker Tom Kalin.

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Joe Lipsett

Murder Made Fiction Podcast - Bloody Disgusting

Jun 12, 2026

3.5/5

Despite a few issues with the pacing and editing of the first half, this sumptuous black and white New Queer Wave film leans heavily into the romance between Leopold and Loeb

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Rob Gonsalves

Rob's Movie Vault

Apr 9, 2007

A

An exotic mood piece, based on the infamous Leopold-Loeb case, that probably didn't win director Tom Kalin many friends in the gay community.

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Dec 1, 2006

B+

As a dark, moody and stylized (the film is shot in b/w) poem of love and madness Swoon is effective, but as social polemic on contemporary gay issues, it's strained; even so, it's a striking feature debut.

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Jul 23, 2017

Couldn't make it past 4 minutes. Awful. Seems like a parody of an art film. You want to watch a movie about the Leopold and Loeb case watch Rope or Compulsion. Wish I could get my $3 back from Amazon.

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Tom Kalin

Director

Daniel Schlachet

Richard Loeb

Craig Chester

Nathan Leopold Jr.

Ron Vawter

State's Attorney Crowe

Michael Kirby

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Michael Stumm

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Synopsis

In a film based on actual events, teenagers Nathan Leopold Jr. (Craig Chester) and Richard Loeb (Daniel Schlachet) share a dangerous sexual bond and an amoral outlook on life. They spend afternoons breaking into storefronts and engaging in petty crimes, until the calculating Nathan ups the ante by kidnapping, and murdering, a young boy. When the body is found, all evidence leads to Nathan and Richard, whose strange relationship makes the case one of the most talked-about trials of the 1920s.

Director: Tom Kalin
Production Co: Killer Films, American Playhouse
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 4, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA): $340.1K
Runtime: 1h 32m

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