The Unforeseen (2007)
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89% of critics liked it
(37 reviews) -
67% of users liked it
(647 ratings)
First-time feature filmmaker Laura Dunn transforms an idea suggested to her by legendary director Terrence Malick into a cinematic reality with an ambitious documentary detailing the rise of a West Texas farm boy-turned-wildly successful real-estate mogul, and the landmark environmental movement… More First-time feature filmmaker Laura Dunn transforms an idea suggested to her by legendary director Terrence Malick into a cinematic reality with an ambitious documentary detailing the rise of a West Texas farm boy-turned-wildly successful real-estate mogul, and the landmark environmental movement that his actions inadvertently set into motion. In the late-'70s, the city of Austin, TX, was ripe for change. Recognizing the remarkable potential for both growth and financial profit in such a rapidly expanding boomtown, aspiring real-estate tycoon Gary Bradley set his own American dream into motion by turning a 4,000-acre ranch into the biggest and fastest-selling subdivision in the entire state of Texas. His sizable development would stir controversy in the community, however, when the locals learned that it would likely mean the end of the delicate limestone aquifer and spring-fed swimming that had stood as a local landmark for generations. Determined not to let the precious natural resource run dry at any cost, the concerned citizens decided to do everything in their power to fight the development. In the ensuing battle, one of America's most powerful environmental movements was born. Robert Redford and Willie Nelson appear in a thought-provoking film that weighs the economics of the American dream against the destruction of the natural world in an effort to explore just what price we, and future generations, are willing to pay for the luxuries of modern living. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Rating, Runtime
- Unrated, 1 hr. 34 min.
- Directed By
- Laura Dunn
- Genres
- Documentary, Special Interest
- In Theaters
- Feb 29, 2008 Wide
- On DVD
- Sep 30, 2008
- Studio
- Cinema Guild
Critic Reviews
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Joe Leydon, Houston Chronicle
By turns rapturously beautiful and unspeakably sad while considering the consequences of unchecked urban sprawl.
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Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
No one who sees this intriguing documentary will want to argue with reporter Greider when he forcefully insists, "We need a more mature regard for the future." We do indeed.
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Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle
[Cinematographer] Daniel has never shot a film for Malick, though you'd hardly guess so, given The Unforeseen's poetic and dreamy shots of nature that, like the images that open the Malick's "The Thin Red Line," hint at an Earthly paradise.
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David Edelstein, New York Magazine
The Unforeseen is a poetic and high-minded meditation on American developers' manifest destiny and the cancer it introduces into the natural world.
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Ty Burr, Boston Globe
As frustrating as it is welcome.
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