Movieo

The Door

2008 · 17m Drama
Directed by Juanita Wilson

Seen it?

Overview

A father's desperate attempt to come to terms with the devastating affects of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. This Oscar-nominated film opens with an absurd act: stealing a door. Then, what had seemed an absurd act turns into a simple statement of human dignity, of people making sense of loss through ritual. THE DOOR reflects on the fact that it is based on someone's testimony. Images are impressionistic, haunting, like fragments of memories which the viewer must piece together. Although the main character, Nikolai, gives us the facts, he himself is trying to make sense of them in his own mind. The story moves forwards and backwards in time, revealing the events retrospectively as the viewer bears witness to the universal tragedy of Chernobyl through the eyes of one man. Nominated for Best Short Film, Live Action at the Academy Awards. Winner of Best Short at the Cork International Film Festival and Irish Film and Television Awards.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
Fresh

[Director] Price keeps the humor believably shallow and the movie from getting too far from the aim of chronicling an exclusivity junkie's fall.

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times
Fresh

A mockumentary about the people who run Manhattan nightlife, has solid-gold satire at its cocaine-stained fingertips.

Nathan Lee, New York Times
Rotten

Built on an amusing idea that can't quite support an entire movie, Wayne Price's comedic debut might have made a terrific short.

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
Fresh

A brightly observant comedy of jet-set manners.

Bob Mondello, NPR.org
Rotten

Not until the goofy closing credits does the film hit its tonal stride and nail what could have been its saving, salient theme: the absurd lines that fancy people draw (and obey) to make themselves feel special on a Saturday night.

Michelle Orange, Village Voice

Comments

Talk about the film with other members

More films