Monrovia, Indiana

What I learned from Monrovia, Indiana is that I - personally - am bored by mattress shopping, City Council arguments over fire hydrants, and high school band concerts I am not obligated by shared DNA to attend.

Like all of Wiseman's films, "Monrovia, Indiana" possesses almost meditative power.

As usual, Wiseman's scenes extend for long stretches, which can be an acquired taste for some viewers. Yet this time around, he ends his film with one of the most shattering sequences of his career...

Given enough time, Wiseman would conceivably want to make documentaries about everything. That's amazing. What's even more amazing: If anyone could actually do it, it's Wiseman

There's a natural drama in life, an organic meditation in the preparation of ground beef or the cutting of pork chops, the sharpening of a knife. They're the tiny bits of life that Wiseman's film clings to.

The result is surprisingly companionable and enjoyable, an unhurried look at a location that is in no kind of rush, a place that is concerned most of all with preserving the way it's always been.

Monrovia is a highlight among Wiseman’s recent work...

If ever in the future there is a museum dedicated to the past this title will surely be endlessly looping.

There doesn't feel like there's an ounce of manipulation in Monrovia, Indiana.

Maintaining a chilly distance from his subjects, Wiseman avoids uncovering a more complex reality, thereby rendering impossible any genuine insight into or accurate political assessment about this community...