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Sweet Virginia

Sweet Virginia

Drama · Thriller · 2017

A former rodeo star, now a motel manager, meets a young man who is responsible for the violence that suddenly has seized his small town.

Movie details

Sweet Virginia

2017 Drama · Thriller 1h 34m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

5.9 / 10

Community rating

A former rodeo star, now a motel manager, meets a young man who is responsible for the violence that suddenly has seized his small town.

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 Sweet Virginia?

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.

Dreamland

Dreamland

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Amid the dust storms and economic depression of Dust Bowl Era Oklahoma, Eugene Evans finds his family farm on the brink of foreclosure. Discovering fugitive bank robber Allison Wells hiding in his small town, he is torn between claiming the bounty on her head and his growing attraction to the seductive criminal.

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

Action · 1974

An American bartender and his prostitute girlfriend go on a road trip through the Mexican underworld to collect a $1 million bounty on the head of a dead gigolo.

A Perfect Murder

A Perfect Murder

Crime · 1998

Millionaire industrialist Steven Taylor is a man who has everything but what he craves most: the love and fidelity of his wife. A hugely successful player in the New York financial world, he considers her to be his most treasured acquisition. But she needs more than simply the role of dazzling accessory.

Sexy Beast

Sexy Beast

Crime · 2001

Ex-safecracker Gal Dove has served his time behind bars and is blissfully retired to a Spanish villa paradise with a wife he adores. The idyll is shattered by the arrival of his nemesis Don Logan, intent on persuading Gal to return to London for one last big job.

Blood Simple

Blood Simple

Crime · 1985

The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them murdered.

The Killing

The Killing

Crime · 1956

Career criminal Johnny Clay recruits a sharpshooter, a crooked police officer, a bartender and a betting teller named George, among others, for one last job before he goes straight and gets married. But when George tells his restless wife about the scheme to steal millions from the racetrack where he works, she hatches a plot of her own.

Touch of Evil

Touch of Evil

Crime · 1958

A border-town bombing draws Mexican investigator Miguel Vargas into a corruption-ridden police investigation led by crooked captain Hank Quinlan, setting off a deadly struggle over power, justice, and truth.

The Way of the Gun

The Way of the Gun

Action · 2000

Two criminal drifters without sympathy get more than they bargained for after kidnapping and holding for ransom the surrogate mother of a powerful and shady man.

Bonnie and Clyde

Bonnie and Clyde

Crime · 1967

In the 1930s, bored European-American waitress Bonnie Parker falls in love with a European-American ex-con named Clyde Barrow and together they start a violent crime spree through the country, stealing cars and robbing banks.

El Gringo

El Gringo

Adventure · 2012

A man crossing into Mexico with a satchel of $2,000,000—and a bloody past—finds himself under sudden attack in the sleepy town of El Fronteras.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Jamie M. Dagg

Written by

Benjamin China · Paul China

Jon Bernthal

Jon Bernthal

Sam Rossi

Christopher Abbott

Christopher Abbott

Elwood

Imogen Poots

Imogen Poots

Lila Mccabe

Rosemarie DeWitt

Rosemarie DeWitt

Bernadette Barrett

Odessa Young

Odessa Young

Maggie Russell

Joseph Lyle Taylor

Joseph Lyle Taylor

Tom Barrett

Jonathan Tucker

Jonathan Tucker

Mitchel Mccabe

Court is in session

Put Sweet Virginia on trial.

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

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.