Fast Food Nation
(Great Britain/USA, 2006, 112 minutes)
A marketing executive for a fast-food chain investigates accusations of contamination at the Colorado factory where the meat is processed — the same factory that is the promised land for a number of illegal Mexican migrants looking for a better life. Intriguing but insufficient film version of a best-selling, non-fiction exposé about the fast food industry, turned into an all-star prestige melodrama; there’s a welcome ambiguity to the film and a sincere effort to create characters rather than archetypes, but the absence of visual style and the lackadaisical pacing and structure play against it.
Recorded Picture Company presents, in association with Hanway Films, Participant Productions and BBC Films, a Jeremy Thomas production. Starring Patricia Arquette, Bobby Cannavale, Paul Dano, Luis Guzman, Ethan Hawke, Ashley Johnson, Greg Kinnear, Kris Kristofferson, Avril Lavigne, Esai Morales, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Lou Taylor Pucci, Ana Claudia Talancón, Wilmer Valderrama, Bruce Willis. Directed by Richard Linklater; produced by Jeremy Thomas, Malcolm McLaren; screenplay by Eric Schlosser and Richard Linklater, based on the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser; music by Friends of Dean Martinez; director of photography, Lee Daniel; production designer, Bruce Curtis; costume designers, Kari Perkins and Lee Hunsaker; film editor, Sandra Adair.
A marketing executive for a fast-food chain investigates accusations of contamination at the Colorado factory where the meat is processed — the same factory that is the promised land for a number of illegal Mexican migrants looking for a better life. Intriguing but insufficient film version of a best-selling, non-fiction exposé about the fast food industry, turned into an all-star prestige melodrama; there’s a welcome ambiguity to the film and a sincere effort to create characters rather than archetypes, but the absence of visual style and the lackadaisical pacing and structure play against it.
Recorded Picture Company presents, in association with Hanway Films, Participant Productions and BBC Films, a Jeremy Thomas production. Starring Patricia Arquette, Bobby Cannavale, Paul Dano, Luis Guzman, Ethan Hawke, Ashley Johnson, Greg Kinnear, Kris Kristofferson, Avril Lavigne, Esai Morales, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Lou Taylor Pucci, Ana Claudia Talancón, Wilmer Valderrama, Bruce Willis. Directed by Richard Linklater; produced by Jeremy Thomas, Malcolm McLaren; screenplay by Eric Schlosser and Richard Linklater, based on the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser; music by Friends of Dean Martinez; director of photography, Lee Daniel; production designer, Bruce Curtis; costume designers, Kari Perkins and Lee Hunsaker; film editor, Sandra Adair.
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