National Anthem

2023

Action / Drama

16
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 91% · 69 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 78% · 100 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.3/10 10 1873 1.9K

rodeo new mexico open relationship single mother lgbt alcoholic mother

Director

Luke Gilford Photo
Luke Gilford

Top cast

Robyn Lively Photo
Robyn Lively as Fiona
Eve Lindley Photo
Eve Lindley as Sky
Mark Sivertsen Photo
Mark Sivertsen as Rick
Mason Alexander Park Photo
Mason Alexander Park as Carrie
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU 720p.WEB 1080p.WEB 2160p.WEB.x265
912.81 MB
1280*766
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 39 min
Seeds 2
1.83 GB
1804*1080
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 39 min
Seeds 3
911.19 MB
1194*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 39 min
Seeds 1
1.83 GB
1792*1080
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 39 min
Seeds 7
4.42 GB
3600*2158
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 39 min
Seeds 7

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by CinemaSerf 6 / 10

National Anthem

"Dylan" (Charlie Plummer) lives with his mum and younger brother and works, where he can, in construction to put food on the table. One day, he picks up some work with a travelling rodeo circus - loads of aspiring Buffalo Bills. The thing is, most of them are gay and aside from roping the ponies they put on some drag shows and have all the concomitant relationship issues that you'd expect to find amongst a community that is tightly night and highly strung. He is welcomed by all, and swiftly takes a shine to "Sky" (Eve Lindley) who is in an open relationship with "Pepe" (Rene Rosado) and for the rest of this film we follow that turbulent scenario set against more of his own family's discord and his own desires to save his cash to buy an SUV and travel the land. There is something really quite visceral about Plummer's efforts here and the grand expanse of scenery is really well captured by the photography, but the story. It's all just too safe. It's sort of like inserting a straight dynamic into "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert", only this really does lack for much humour and is, especially towards the end, a rather earnest and plodding melodrama that I thought just ran out of steam. It's a story about love, lust and acceptance, but delivers nothing we haven't seen before across an whole range of cinema genres. Indeed, it's almost compartmentalised to ensure the main plot has virtually nothing at all to do with the film's USP. It had the potential to rock the boat a bit, but I was really quite disappointed, sorry.
Reviewed by paul2001sw-1 6 / 10

Skilfully made, but self-indulgent

Luke Gilford's 'National Anthem' is a film that displays some considerable skill on the part of its director and cast. There are scenes that capture how it feels when you fall in love; and also scenes that reflect the tender pain of departure when you wish you didn't have to go. The film seems to be often described as "beautifully shot". Some of this is achieved by simply putting physically attractive people in the landscape of the American west; but this is done in such a way that does successfully evoke the desired vibe. The problem is that the movie only seems to consist of the big emotional scenes on which a greater film might hang; they're not earned, and there's no dramatic structure outside the slightly indulgent display of happiness and hurt. I also grew tired of the fact that almost every line of dialogue is whispered, as if the film is trying too hard to ooze sensitivity from every pore. Finally, it's never clear how our heroes, a commune of sexually non-conforming individuals, are earning a living; this is part of the reason for the absence of drama in the movie, as the group's contact with non-members seems limited to the interaction of the lead character and his mother. A little more conflict would not have gone amiss.
Reviewed by

Read more IMDb reviews

24 Comments

Be the first to leave a comment