The Arbor

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The Arbor

2011,

1h 34m,

Drama

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Watchlist

96%

47 Reviews

Tomatometer

74%

1,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

96%

Tomatometer

47 Reviews

74%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

A mix of documentary and fictional elements tells the story of doomed playwright Andrea Dunbar, who wrote about the difficult life she endured growing up in England's Bradford housing projects. Archival footage featuring Dunbar is presented, along with interviews with family members, including her daughter, Lorraine, who led a similarly troubled life. Excerpts from Dunbar's most famous play, "The Arbor," are performed on the streets of her hometown and at Buttershaw Estates, where she lived.

Critics Consensus

Smart and inventive, The Arbor offers some intensely memorable twists on tired documentary tropes.

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Nicolas Rapold

Film Comment Magazine

Jun 28, 2013

What emerges is a curious mix of avant-garde technique and social-realist case study, equally indebted to Barnard's art-world-video background and Dunbar's own close-to-the-bone writing.

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Eric Kohn

IndieWire

Jan 5, 2012

A

Documentaries often toy with the conventions of non-fiction storytelling to the detriment of their content, but Clio Barnard's innovative The Arbor provides a welcome exception to the norm.

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Ronnie Scheib

Variety

Jan 5, 2012

Numerous celluloid experiments have fudged reality and fiction lately, but few are as formally inventive or socially revelatory as The Arbor.

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Savina Petkova

A Good Movie To Watch

Nov 24, 2023

79/100

Such a conceit could easily turn gimmicky, but in the case of The Arbor, the chasm between performance, recital, and lived reality (retold), can fit a whole world.

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Roe McDermott

Hot Press

Mar 11, 2016

4/5

Though The Arbor is hard to watch, it's even harder to define, but it's clear that this is Andrea, this is England, and this is extraordinary.

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Martin Tsai

Critic's Notebook

Oct 7, 2015

Ms. Barnard illustrates in heartbreaking fashion how the cycle of familial neglect, low self-esteem and self destruction completely ruined lives that were once so full of promise.

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Clio Barnard

Director

Manjinder Virk

Lorraine

Christine Bottomley

Lisa

Neil Dudgeon

Steve Saul

Natalie Gavin

Andrea Dunbar

Robert Emms

David Dunbar

12

76%

74%

12

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Synopsis

A mix of documentary and fictional elements tells the story of doomed playwright Andrea Dunbar, who wrote about the difficult life she endured growing up in England's Bradford housing projects. Archival footage featuring Dunbar is presented, along with interviews with family members, including her daughter, Lorraine, who led a similarly troubled life. Excerpts from Dunbar's most famous play, "The Arbor," are performed on the streets of her hometown and at Buttershaw Estates, where she lived.

Director: Clio Barnard
Producer: Tracy O'Riordan
Distributor: Strand Releasing
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 27, 2011, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 18, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $21.3K
Runtime: 1h 34m

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