The Hawk Is Dying (2006)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: Paul Giamatti lends his character some pathos, but The Hawk is Dying is otherwise too ambiguous and morose to be enjoyable.
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Movie Info
A man channels his feelings through an obsession with wild birds in this independent drama based on a novel by Harry Crews. Fortysomething George Gattling (Paul Giamatti) is an emotionally stunted man who makes his living doing auto upholstery and lives with his sister, Precious (Rusty Schwimmer), and her autistic son, Fred (Michael Pitt). Though George has an on-and-off relationship with Betty (Michelle Williams), a constantly stoned young woman just edging out of her teens, one of the few ways… More
Rating: | Unrated |
Genre: | Art House & International, Drama |
Directed By: | Julian Goldberger |
Written By: | Julian Goldberger, Harold Crews |
In Theaters: | Jan 21, 2006 Wide |
On DVD: | May 29, 2007 |
Runtime: |
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LoginCritic Reviews for The Hawk Is Dying
All Critics (23) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (7) | Rotten (16) | DVD (2)
Goldberger and Giamatti strain too hard for strangeness.

These strengths seldom mesh persuasively.

The Hawk Is Dying is a fragile little movie, occasionally ridiculous, but with M. Night Shyamalan's Lady In The Water, Giamatti proved that he can make even the weirdest material believable.

Imagine an entire film infected with hangdog sensibility, unrelieved by humor or narrative interest, and you have The Hawk Is Dying.

For performing half this film with a predatory bird perched and flapping angrily on his arm, Paul Giamatti deserves some sort of award.

Not an easy movie to watch, and it's far from perfect -- but it does have an artsy integrity and a fascinatingly intense performance by Paul Giamatti.

Audience Reviews for The Hawk Is Dying
This was a good film, but I don't know if it was one I would recommend to everyone. It is kind of slow, and not the most thrilling of topics, I guess, with the main character being obssessed with training a hawk! However, the cast are all very good in this, particularly Paul Giamatti and Michelle Williams, and it does ring true. I have to confess I only watched it because Michael Pitt is in it, it is not exactly something that would have leapt of the shelf at me otherwise, and since he's only in it for about half an hour, and not exactly the most interesting role I ever saw him, (he is good, but he's kind of underwritten. Well I guess only so much you can do with an autistic character who barely speaks. Kind of wasted in that part, really), so that isn't a recommendation for other fans either! However, I actually was interested enough in the characters and story to watch the rest of it and see what happened, and I did find it worthwhile, although I can't imagine wanting to sit down and watch it again anytime soon.
Super Reviewer
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Thats what I thought after the first 30 min, the 2nd 30 min, and the last 30 min. I have more to do with my life then watch this, don't I? I guess not or I wouldn't have finished it. Save Me Somebody

Super Reviewer
Giamatti's great, but this is what happens when you smoke weed with a camera.
Super Reviewer
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