sign in
register
Watch
Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video with Ads Kino Film Collection
+3
Manufactured Landscapes
Manufactured Landscapes
+3
JustWatch
Your probable score
?
Manufactured Landscapes

Manufactured Landscapes

2006
Documentary
1h 26m
Manufactured Landscapes begins as a portrait of acclaimed Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky, who specializes in large-scale images of vast industrial landscapes. It quickly develops into a meditation on the human and environmental costs of the permanent and profound changes our planet is experiencing. Focusing on Burtynsky's images of China as it undergoes an unprecedented transformation into a 21st century powerhouse, the film's surface is beautiful, its implications frightening. (Film Forum)

Directed by:

Jennifer Baichwal

Starring:

Edward Burtynsky

Genre:

Documentary

Country:

Canada

Languages:

English, Mandarin, Cantonese
imdb IMDb
Update history
Suggest edit

Manufactured Landscapes

2006
Documentary
1h 26m
Your probable score
Ratings & Reviews Cast Collections Similar Stats Trailer
Avg Percentile 64.67% from 154 total ratings
Ratings & Reviews Cast Collections Similar Stats Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

(155)
Compact view
clear
Compact view
Show
Sort
theficionadotheficionado
Rated 28 Sep 2009
75
74th
"It's a very broad view," says one Chinese laborer of Burtynsky's photographs. "It's hard to see the details." Amen, brother. Director Baichwal takes his photographs, almost radical in their imaginative and spatial scope, and tempers them with a focus on the indelibly, ineffably human. It's a thorny beast, too: In its depiction of scarred, ruinous, stripped landscapes created for the purposes of comfort and leisure lies the film's own auto-critique.
Rated 28 Sep 2009
budhisattvaBudhisattva
Rated 15 Jul 2013
78
56th
This material could have easily been distilled into a superb photo-essay. The composition of Burtynsky's photographs are surreal, otherworldly, often evoking complex feelings about modernity, global inequality, and waste. Unfortunately, it doesn't take full advantage of being a feature-length documentary. Still shots and museum footage are overused as filler. The opening dolly shot all the way down a Chinese factory floor completely validates the experience nonetheless.
Rated 15 Jul 2013
begoniabolbegoniabol
Rated 29 Sep 2012
70
60th
The photography is beautiful yet sometimes depressing. Watching those unhappy faces of the people in the factories is not a nice sight.
Rated 29 Sep 2012
slantmagSlantMag
Rated 20 Oct 2011
30
78th
"Manufactured Landscapes is a film very much aware of its own existence, of the mechanisms that brought it about, yet it never again reaches the transcendental heights of its pre-credits prelude." - Keith Uhlich
Rated 20 Oct 2011
coheedCoheed
Rated 17 Oct 2010
80
78th
Images of the urbanised and industrialised world are used, from within China, not only show a country that has changed greatly, both in its environment and the ideology and beliefs, but how man in general has altered the Earth in a way that can be visually arresting but is incredibly destructive.
Rated 17 Oct 2010
obdurateObdurate
Rated 24 May 2010
80
67th
I'm on the fence about whether I give it that extra point to make it a "great" movie. Fuck it, I'll do it. It's got absolutely great images, and shows just how photography can morph anything into something beautiful. While those are a joy to look at, I found myself zoning out once in a while. Seeing the portfolio might be more beneficial because then you can examine the pics without having to pause the movie. The message (even though he doesn't take sides) is pretty obvious but still nice.
Rated 24 May 2010
cowmanCowman
Rated 11 May 2010
65
40th
The pictures are super, but the documentary isn't that interesting.
Rated 11 May 2010
geminirisinggeminirising
Rated 06 Aug 2009
92
88th
another one everyone should watch
Rated 06 Aug 2009
jameskeyjameskey
Rated 20 Jul 2009
75
50th
Beautiful images, but as a film, somewhat lacking - partly an exploration of the philosophy behind the pictures, partly an exploration of a changing world, but manages neither especially well.
Rated 20 Jul 2009
suture_selfSuture Self
Rated 03 Dec 2008
3
24th
The guy takes great pictures, I'll give him that. The documentary, though, is kind of boring and obvious at times. I rather just look at his portfolio.
Rated 03 Dec 2008
icarusIcarus
Rated 17 May 2008
85
79th
Wonderful opening shot that rightly sets the mood of the piece. It combines the scope of our world's "remaking" in the industrial age with Burtynsky's tendency to show rather than tell. That the film continues in this vein makes it a great success.
Rated 17 May 2008
lonelypandalonelypanda
Rated 24 Mar 2008
40
18th
China has trash problems.
Rated 24 Mar 2008
davidkahaneDavidKahane
Rated 29 Jan 2008
90
83rd
he film begins in a cavernous factory space with an astonishing 8-minute tracking shot that is characteristic of the entire film for its patience, its strange, almost incongruous beauty, and its prying revelation. Baichwal is not making some plodding celebration of an artist, but instead honoring him by carrying the power of his art into her film. It is a bold approach that pays off with a movie that is often mesmerizing.
Rated 29 Jan 2008
doctor7doctor7
Rated 18 Oct 2007
92
95th
Just like the opening shot the film simply absorbs it's subject matter. It doesn't tell you what to think, it simply unfolds and lets you decide for yourself what to think about it. This beautifully shot film perfectly echos the philosophy of Edward Burtynsky, the Canadian photographer the documentary follows.
Rated 18 Oct 2007

Collections

Loading ...

Similar Titles

Loading ...

Statistics

Loading ...

Trailer

Loading ...