George Washington (film)

Plot

The film follows a group of kids growing up in a depressed rural town in North Carolina, as seen through the eyes of 12-year-old Nasia. After breaking up with her show-off boyfriend Buddy (played by Curtis Cotton III), she withdraws from her delinquent friends and becomes romantically interested in a strange, introverted boy named George who is burdened by the fact that his skull never hardened after birth. Tragedy strikes when George accidentally kills Buddy, and the group, fearing punishment, decide to hide his body. In its aftermath, George takes up the unlikely role of town hero.

Production

George Washington marked David Gordon Green's feature film debut as a screenwriter, film director and film producer. It was also the first feature film role for actor Eddie Rouse.

Critical reception

The film has an 82% 'Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 56 reviews. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times selected it as one of the ten best films of 2000, as did Time Magazine and New York Times critic Elvis Mitchell.

In Roger Ebert's four star review, he called the cinematography by Tim Orr the best of the year, also writing "... it is not about plot, but about memory and regret. It remembers a summer that was not a happy summer, but there will never again be a summer so intensely felt, so alive, so valuable." Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader gave the film a favorable review, writing "You have to bring a lot of yourself to this film if you want it to give something back, but the rewards are considerable." Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle called it "a director's baby from the opening frames" and "not like any other movie. That, in itself, makes it something to see. Writer-director David Gordon Green, in his feature debut, has created a visually and emotionally consistent universe." Rolling Stone's Peter Travers called David Gordon Green "a writer and director of rare grace and feeling", whose directorial debut is of "startling originality that will haunt you for a good, long time."

Joe Leydon of Variety was one of ten of fifty-six critics to give the film a negative review, calling it an "... undistinguished and uninvolving attempt to offer a rural spin on "Kids.""