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Burn Your Maps

Burn Your Maps

Adventure · Comedy · Drama · 2016

A family in emotional turmoil is taken by surprise in this quirky adventure where an eccentric 8-year-old American boy, Wes, has an existential epiphany - He believes that he is in fact a Mongolian goat herder.

Movie details

Burn Your Maps

“Sometimes you have to get lost to find your way home.”

2016 Adventure · Comedy · Drama 1h 42m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.9 / 10

Community rating

A family in emotional turmoil is taken by surprise in this quirky adventure where an eccentric 8-year-old American boy, Wes, has an existential epiphany - He believes that he is in fact a Mongolian goat herder.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Burn Your Maps?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Black Gold

Black Gold

Adventure · 2011

On the Arabian Peninsula in the 1930s, two warring leaders come face to face. The victorious Nesib, Emir of Hobeika, lays down his peace terms to rival Amar, Sultan of Salmaah. The two men agree that neither can lay claim to the area of no man’s land between them called The Yellow Belt. In return, Nesib adopts Amar’s two boys Saleeh and Auda as a guarantee against invasion. Twelve years later, Saleeh and Auda have grown into young men. Saleeh, the warrior, itches to escape his gilded cage and return to his father’s land. Auda cares only for books and the pursuit of knowledge. One day, their adopted father Nesib is visited by an American from Texas. He tells the Emir that his land is blessed with oil and promises him riches beyond his wildest imagination. Nesib imagines a realm of infinite possibility, a kingdom with roads, schools and hospitals all paid for by the black gold beneath the barren sand. There is only one problem. The precious oil is located in the Yellow Belt.

A Simple Twist of Fate

A Simple Twist of Fate

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Raymond & Ray

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Drama · 2022

Half brothers Raymond and Ray reunite when their estranged father dies—and discover that his final wish was for them to dig his grave. Together, they process who they've become as men, both because of their father and in spite of him.

Landline

Landline

Comedy · 2017

A teenager living with her sister and parents in Manhattan during the 1990s discovers that her father is having an affair.

The Clique

The Clique

Comedy · 2008

A young girl tries to fit in with a clique of popular middle school girls after moving into the guest house of one of their homes.

Code 3

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A burned-out paramedic tries to survive his last 24 hours on the job while training a new recruit.

The Sasquatch Gang

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The Death and Return of Superman

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The Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen now presented as an over two-hour unabridged and seamless animated feature. Witness the no-holds-barred battle between the Justice League and an unstoppable alien force known only as Doomsday, a battle that only Superman can finish and will forever change the face of Metropolis.

Limbo

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Adventure · 1999

Traumatized by a fishing boat accident many years before, Joe Gastineau has given up his hopes for a life beyond the odd jobs he takes to support himself. That quickly changes when nomadic club singer Donna de Angelo and her troubled teen-age daughter enter Joe’s life. Both mother and daughter fall for Joe, increasing the friction between them. The tension continues to build when Joe invites them on a pleasure cruise up the Alaskan coast, discovering too late that the trip may cost them their lives.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Jordan Roberts

Written by

Jordan Roberts

Vera Farmiga

Vera Farmiga

Alise Firth

Jacob Tremblay

Jacob Tremblay

Wes Firth

Suraj Sharma

Suraj Sharma

Ismail

Ramón Rodríguez

Ramón Rodríguez

Batbayar

Virginia Madsen

Virginia Madsen

Victoria

Marton Csokas

Marton Csokas

Connor Firth

Jason Scott Lee

Jason Scott Lee

Shaman Helper

Court is in session

Put Burn Your Maps on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.