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Cinema Verite

Play trailer Poster for Cinema Verite TV-14 2011 1h 30m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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62% Tomatometer 42 Reviews 60% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
In the 1970s Bill Loud (Tim Robbins) and his wife, Pat (Diane Lane), allow cameras to film their personal lives for the PBS series "An American Family."

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Cinema Verite

Cinema Verite

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Critics Consensus

Cinema Verite is a disappointingly incurious dive into the birth of reality television, but terrific performances and the inherent intrigue behind the making of An American Family keep this drama compelling.

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Critics Reviews

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Andrew Billen The Times (UK) 06/10/2020
The film's real fascination is with the documentary's maker, Craig Gilbert, played with wonderful faux innocence by James Gandolfini. Go to Full Review Julie Hinds San Jose Mercury News 06/10/2020
Like a history lesson in the genre that's taken over so much of cable and broadcast network programming. It's also the sort of intelligent drama that has to compete with the cheaper, flashier shows that An American Family eventually spawned. Go to Full Review Matt Zoller Seitz Salon.com 06/10/2020
Cinema Verite is smart and often moving, but unsatisfying overall. It compresses seven months of shooting, 3,000 hours of raw footage, and 12 hours' worth of televised story into a little over 90 minutes, losing complexity along the way. Go to Full Review David Crawford Radio Times Mar 4
4/5
Lane stands out as Pat, subtly portraying her shift from naive charm to brittle cynicism, while Gandolfini infuses his wily Gilbert with a twinkly eyed charm. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Keith B B @Okbullard Dec 31 It was pretty engaging buy seemed contrived here and there. I remember hearing bits and pieces about this show but never watched it on PBS. Watch it if there's nothing else on. See more Isa B @RT32418990 12/24/2024 James Gandolfini gave a good performance in this film. Tim Robbins and Diane Lane gave terrific performances as well. Cinema Verite is a good HBO film. 83/100 See more dave s @RT68722908 04/11/2021 It's an interesting premise, but at the same time the whole thing feels a bit unsatisfying. Based on actual events, TV producer Craig Gilbert (James Gandolfini) convinces Pat and Bill Loud (Diane Lane, Tim Robbins) to allow a camera crew to film the day-to-day activity within their family in order to capture a slice of life of the typical American family. The end result is the aptly named PBS show, and probably the first reality TV show, The American Family. Despite the stellar cast, it feels like the actors are reading their lines off of a teleprompter, possibly the fault of a predictable script that doesn't seem to have much in the way of fresh or original dialogue. See more 12/14/2019 I liked this movie, it was a made for t.v. movie for HBO based on the Loud family. One of the first ever reality show/reality families that ever was on t.v. Very interesting good acting, well known actors under rated movie in my opinion, I'd watch it again if it was ever on t.v. again. Before this movie I never heard of the Loud family when this came out PBS I believe was showing the original show and selling it on d.v.d. You can maybe get it or watch it online good movie docu. based movie. See more 03/24/2019 Good performances from both Lane and Gandolfini reaching towards the final act of the realistically comparable reception, but they werenâ(TM)t enough when following the forced treatment in akin to Lifetime's "Unauthorized Story" series that needs little stronger credibility to present convincing accuracy around the melodrama by further documentation that were available. (C+) See more 09/23/2016 Topic is good but the movie consists of a lot of cringy moments See more Read all reviews
Cinema Verite

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Cast & Crew

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Shari Springer Berman

Director

Robert Pulcini

Director

Diane Lane

Pat Loud

Tim Robbins

Bill Loud

James Gandolfini

Craig Gilbert

Patrick Fugit

Alan Raymond

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Cinema Verite

Cinema Verite (2011) Cinema Verite (2011) Cinema Verite (2011) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis In the 1970s Bill Loud (Tim Robbins) and his wife, Pat (Diane Lane), allow cameras to film their personal lives for the PBS series "An American Family."
Director
Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Producer
Karyn McCarthy
Screenwriter
David Seltzer
Production Co
HBO Films
Rating
TV-14
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
May 22, 2016
Runtime
1h 30m
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