Private Violence
| Private Violence | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster | |
| Directed by | Cynthia Hill |
| Produced by | Cynthia Hill |
| Music by | Chuck Johnson |
| Cinematography | Rex Miller |
| Edited by | Tom Vickers |
Production company | |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 80 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Private Violence is a 2014 American documentary film directed and produced by Cynthia Hill.[1] The film premiered in the U.S. Documentary Competition program at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2014,[2][3] where it won the Candescent Award.[4]
Plot
The film narrates the story of domestic violence survivors: Kit Gruelle, a domestic violence victim turned advocate who seeks justice for all violence survivors, and Deanna Walters, whose estranged husband Robbie kidnapped and beat her for four days in the cab of his truck but was not arrested for it.[5]
Reception
The film received mostly positive response from critics.[6] In his review for Variety, Dennis Harvey said that "Cynthia Hill delivers a vivid portrait of one leading justice advocate and one survivor of horrific spousal abuse."[7] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review and said that "Cynthia Hill's Private Violence offers an interesting procedural account and, along the way, gets to know the impressively dedicated advocate, Kit Gruelle, who sees it through to the end."[8] Brian Tallerico from Film Threat said, "Just by being truthful and honest with its subjects, Cynthia Hill's film feels like a call to action. Listen to it."[9]
However, Dan Fienberg, in his review for HitFix, criticized the film by saying that "'Private Violence' is structured very much like a law-and-order procedural, so an investigation and a build-up to a trial that can't be featured on-screen is anti-climactic storytelling. It's also strange storytelling for Hill to begin the documentary with an intense in medias res sequence in which a terrified woman and a confident advocate work with the police to capture her abusive spouse, only to have these 'characters'—so-to-speak—never appear again in the documentary."[10]
References
- ↑ "Private Violence - The feature length film". Retrieved 12 April 2014.
- ↑ "Private Violence - Director Cynthia Hill". Retrieved 12 April 2014.
- ↑ "Sundance 2014: U.S. Documentary Competition". Retrieved 12 April 2014.
- ↑ Pamela McClintock, “Sundance: Candescent Films Announces 2014 Documentary Awards,” The Hollywood Reporter, January 18, 2014.
- ↑ "Private Violence: Survivors & Advocates Confront Victim Blaming & the Epidemic of Domestic Abuse". Retrieved 12 April 2014.
- ↑ "Private Violence". Retrieved 12 April 2014.
- ↑ "Sundance Film Review: ‘Private Violence’". Retrieved 12 April 2014.
- ↑ "Private Violence: Sundance Review". Retrieved 12 April 2014.
- ↑ "PRIVATE VIOLENCE". Retrieved 12 April 2014.
- ↑ "Sundance review roundup from The Fien Print". Retrieved 12 April 2014.