Undertow

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Undertow

R,

2004,

1h 47m,

Mystery & Thriller/

Drama

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Watchlist

Watchlist

56%

115 Reviews

Tomatometer

61%

5,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

56%

Tomatometer

115 Reviews

61%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

After his wife dies, John Munn (Dermot Mulroney) moves with his sons Chris (Jamie Bell) and Tim (Devon Alan) to rural Georgia to raise pigs. Rebelling against his father, Chris initially welcomes the arrival of Uncle Deel (Josh Lucas), just out of jail. Still angry that John married the woman he loved, Deel tries to steal a stash of gold coins, and kills his brother in the struggle. Grabbing the treasure, Chris flees with Tim, and the boys try to elude the murderous Deel.

Critics Consensus

Undertow's gently fantastical elements are balanced by fully realized characters and a story with genuine, steadily accumulating emotional weight.

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Scott Foundas

Variety

Mar 26, 2009

A deep-fried piece of Southern Gothic that wears its unpleasantness like a merit badge...

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Ben Walters

Time Out

Aug 16, 2007

Green's signature pastoral tangents and codeine pacing don't slow down this tale of two boys fleeing their psychotic uncle so much as inappropriately slacken any of the story's suspenseful aspects.

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Jamie Woolley

BBC.com

Jun 21, 2005

3/5

A front-loaded film, sure, but what a front.

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David Walsh

World Socialist Web Site

Feb 15, 2021

The characters are too arbitrarily drawn, they verge on the merely eccentric.

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Paul Dale

The List

Apr 24, 2019

4/5

This white trash fairytale is no masterpiece, but its sinister otherworldliness deserves to be applauded.

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James Kendrick

Q Network Film Desk

Mar 29, 2016

3.5/4

its marriage of conventional thriller dynamics and unexpected visual potency marks it as something both utterly unique and reliably familiar

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Hermione L

Jul 27, 2018

my personal pick for best film of all time. introduced me to the wonder and quality of independent cinema.

Hagrid M

Mar 19, 2018

Undertow is a boring film. It is about a volatile teen who lives with his father and his little brother. Jamie Bell and Dermot Mulroney give horrible performances. The screenplay is a little in places. David Gordon Green did a terrible job directing this movie. I was not impressed with this motion picture.

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Rey L

Mar 18, 2018

This flick earned 3.5 stars because of the performances of the two sons and the other supporting actors. They saved the movie. The plot should have been more developed. It had the makings of a complex story however it fell way short. Nonetheless, I was entertaining and 3.5 stars for a home video movie.

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Leia M

Feb 8, 2008

As with the 70's films of Terrence Malick, one of Undertow's producers, the more intoxicated it becomes with rural desolation and fecundity, the more deeply in touch it puts you with its characters' souls.

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David Gordon Green

Director

Jamie Bell

Chris Munn

Josh Lucas

Deel Munn

Devon Alan

Tim Munn

Dermot Mulroney

John Munn

Shiri Appleby

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Synopsis

After his wife dies, John Munn (Dermot Mulroney) moves with his sons Chris (Jamie Bell) and Tim (Devon Alan) to rural Georgia to raise pigs. Rebelling against his father, Chris initially welcomes the arrival of Uncle Deel (Josh Lucas), just out of jail. Still angry that John married the woman he loved, Deel tries to steal a stash of gold coins, and kills his brother in the struggle. Grabbing the treasure, Chris flees with Tim, and the boys try to elude the murderous Deel.

Director: David Gordon Green
Producer: Lisa Muskat, Terrence Malick, Edward R. Pressman
Screenwriter: Joe Conway, David Gordon Green
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co: United Artists, Sunflower Productions LLC, Continental Films
Rating: R (Violence)
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 22, 2004, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 16, 2008
Box Office (Gross USA): $124.2K
Runtime: 1h 47m
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby SRD, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.37:1)

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