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- 2023
- Music Box Films
- 1 h 25 m
- 2023
- Music Box Films
- 1 h 25 m
Summary Reeling from a devastating loss, Tana (Lily Gladstone) is pulled back into the world by an unexpected invitation to her cousin’s wedding. She packs up her late grandmother’s Cadillac and hits the open road, driving from her home in Minnesota to South Dakota. After reconnecting with her Oglala Lakota family, Tana sets off to retrace a sur...
Directed By: Morrisa Maltz
- 2023
- Music Box Films
- 1 h 25 m
- 2023
- Music Box Films
- 1 h 25 m
The Unknown Country
82
6.5
Where to Watch
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Summary Reeling from a devastating loss, Tana (Lily Gladstone) is pulled back into the world by an unexpected invitation to her cousin’s wedding. She packs up her late grandmother’s Cadillac and hits the open road, driving from her home in Minnesota to South Dakota. After reconnecting with her Oglala Lakota family, Tana sets off to retrace a sur...
Directed By: Morrisa Maltz
Where to Watch
Coming Soon
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim Based on 14 Critic Reviews
82
100% Positive
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim Based on 14 Critic Reviews
82
100% Positive
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Aug 1, 2023
Gladstone manages to sell every emotion, moving from despair to wonder as the journey continues.
Jul 17, 2023
While the stirring visual fluidity of “The Unknown Country,” her first fiction feature and a kindhearted triumph, provides further arguments pointing to Malick likely being an influence, what distinguishes Maltz’s approximation to that style of evocatively loose filmmaking is that it’s grounded on the personal victories of real individuals. Based on that, she forges eclectic narrative devices for a tone poem with substantial dramatic meat on its bones.
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 6 User Ratings
6.5
50% Positive
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
33% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
17% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 6 User Ratings
6.5
50% Positive
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
33% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
17% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
Jul 29, 2025
Consegue ser tenso falando pouco, a maioria das cenas são recortes, alguns até em tom documental, sobre moradores daquela região dos EUA. Aos poucos vemos a intenção do longa, ao introduzir falas que parecem sugerir um discurso fascista efervescente, e tudo soa tão natural que só a trilha sonora é capaz de nos dar a dica para um porvir (que nem chega). É um filme de um estágio embrionário. Muito sensível, mesmo que pareça retalhado em certos momentos.
Report
Feb 28, 2024
In telling a story with surreal and/or other-worldly aspects, there’s a big difference between “mystical” and “mystifying,” and that’s where this second feature from writer-director Morissa Maltz misses the mark. This dreamlike road trip tale of a Native American woman (Lily Gladstone) recovering from the loss of her beloved grandmother follows her on a personal vision quest of sorts across the Midwest and Southern Great Plains. She leaves her home in Minneapolis and travels first to South Dakota to attend her cousin’s wedding and to reconnect with her family and culture, especially the impact of ancestors and spirit guides in everyday life. From there she drives to Texas to see if she can connect with the legacy of her grandmother in the state’s Big Bend region, a favored place of her late nana. In between, she encounters an array of individuals and events that strengthen (but don’t always explain) her bond to a heritage she seems to have left behind some time ago. At first glance, this narrative would seem to have the makings of an enlightening and inspiring journey of self-discovery, and that’s true to a certain extent. However, these themes are never fleshed out as fully as they could have been. While it’s understandable how such a story might have a certain intrinsic enigmatic quality about it, it’s so subdued as to essentially become cryptic, even puzzling. The narrative here is said to be based on the filmmaker’s own experiences, yet, regrettably, that may be the problem – the director is too close to the material to effectively convey what she’s trying to say to outsiders. A framework for the aforementioned themes would appear to be in place, but the handling of many sequences can be so vague that audiences may have difficulty assessing what the filmmaker is trying to convey, let alone even what’s transpiring. This is further hampered by a lack of the protagonist’s character development, which offers little in the way of back story and scant clarity on what she’s seeking to accomplish through this undertaking. Consequently, the film relies on an array of undefined reaction shots, combined with narrated anecdotes from other characters and a wealth of gorgeous landscape shots that beautifully depict the region’s wide open spaces but add little substance, suggesting that they may have been incorporated to pad an already-short 100 runtime. The overall style here is thus reminiscent of the movies of Terrence Malick and Chloé Zhao (particularly “Nomadland” (2020)), auteurs whose works are themselves often challenging to follow but are certainly a cut above what’s on offer here. Unfortunately, “The Unknown Country” represents a missed opportunity to provide valuable insight into the life of an individual and the ways of a culture that could have been uplifting for others faced with similar circumstances. Instead, though, it comes across more like a collection of disjointed images and underdeveloped story threads that had potential but that never materialized as effectively as they might have been.
Report
Jul 28, 2023
The quiet but stirring effect is a dreamscape of eye-opening geography, existential longing and the enduring workaday.
Aug 3, 2023
The Unknown Country is a naturalistic exploration of America that’s hopeful of human connection in the midst of a country that sometimes feels hostile. It’s simplistic, but honest and true to Maltz and Gladstone’s optimism in the face of a place that sometimes bleeds hopelessness.
Aug 8, 2023
A touching combination of fact and fiction makes The Unknown Country one beautiful road trip.
Jul 27, 2023
The film’s gentle detours into the real-life stories remind us that it is the people met on the road that so often make the trip memorable.
Production Company
- Cold Iron Pictures
- Unpaved Rodes
- Wooden Finger Studios
- Thrive Colour
Release Date Jul 28, 2023
Duration 1 h 25 m
Awards
Red Nation Film Festival
• 5 Nominations
Hell's Half Mile Film and Music Festival
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations
Denver Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
