NORTH BY CURRENT
A film by Angelo Madsen Minax
2021, 85 minutes
2021, 85 minutes
No. 332
Documentary
Documentary
2022 Film Independent Spirit Award Nominee | Truer Than Fiction Award
Description
After the inconclusive death of his young niece, filmmaker Angelo Madsen Minax returns to his rural Michigan hometown, preparing to make a film about a broken criminal justice system. Instead, he pivots to excavate the depths of generational addiction, Christian fervor, and trans embodiment.
Lyrically assembled images, decades of home movies, and ethereal narration form an idiosyncratic and poetic undertow that guide a viewer through lifetimes and relationships. Like the relentless Michigan seasons, the meaning of family shifts, as Madsen, his sister, and his parents strive tirelessly to accept each other.
Poised to incite more internal searching than provide clear statements or easy answers, NORTH BY CURRENT dives head first into the challenges of creating identity, the agony of growing up, and the ever-fickle nuances of family.
Festivals
Berlinale, Official Selection
Tribeca Film Festival, Official Selection
Reviews
NYT Critic's Pick! "There is an alchemy here...a cosmic perspective. This kind of personal film has often been attempted, but rarely with this insight." - Nicolas Rapold, The New York Times
"One of the best movies of 2021! A beautiful, complex wonder of a film. Tough, probing, disarming. North by Current is as personal in its perspective as it is generous and self-interrogating. An extraordinary work." - Rolling Stone
“…One of the year’s best films.” - Rogerebert.com
"...A breathless evocation for an entire class of Americans lost in the periphery... A titanic work." - Criterion
"...the slippery place... where death and rebirth can be held in the same breath... In Minax’s hands, grief becomes sculptural, layered, mutable." - The Brooklyn Rail
