The documentary offers a close-up view of abject poverty and the wanton demolition of precious lives.

Full Review | Feb 26, 2021

There are too many moments when it feels like they achieve that intimacy at the expense of the children in question.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.0/4.0 | Sep 21, 2020

[A] terribly human, fitfully funny but always empathetic portrait...

Full Review | Jun 18, 2020

Rich Hill still makes for a well-done documentary. With over 450 hours of footage, Editor Jim Hession cuts it down to a well-paced 90 minutes.

Full Review | Original Score: 6.9/10 | May 30, 2019

At times, Rich Hill has the vibe of an Errol Morris-esque portrait of small-town oddballs, but there is also an ethnographical bleakness to this portrait of angry boys.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 17, 2019

Its beauty also suggests a plea to the viewer: how do you keep America beautiful?

Full Review | Aug 31, 2018

Tracy Droz Tragos and Andrew Droz Palermo's documentary is an unflinching portrait of poverty in rural America, and its sympathetic portrayals give heartbreaking examples of neighbors in need.

Full Review | Jun 23, 2017

The Rust Belt's 'New Normal' depicted as a desolate, depressed dystopia dotted with street urchins a tad too nave to appreciate their dire life prospects.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 14, 2015

We root for them to find hope for the future under the most difficult of circumstances, and worry that there are many more kids just like them.

Full Review | Oct 31, 2014

A beautiful, heartbreaking documentary.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Sep 12, 2014

Made with the slickness of Clint Eastwood's 'It's Halftime in America' commercial and about as substantive.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Sep 10, 2014

In this life, people limit their dreams to what you can find at the dollar store.

Full Review | Sep 4, 2014

As filmmakers Tracy Droz Tragos and Andrew Droz Palermo show, these are not bad boys, but troubled youths attempting to survive in environments in which it seems the cards are stacked against them.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 29, 2014

Life On The Edge

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 28, 2014

A portrait of small-town American poverty in which compassion for its subjects is matched only by a caustic undercurrent of rage at the utter collapse of the American dream.

Full Review | Aug 27, 2014

The confluence of poverty, dysfunctional parenting and poor educational prospects makes the oft-idealized small-town life look like an incubator for failure, no matter how high and spectacular the Fourth of July fireworks fly.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 22, 2014

Astonishingly intimate and unflinching yet also impressionistic.

Full Review | Aug 21, 2014

One moment, you're wincing; the next, you're shaking your head in sympathy.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 21, 2014

The spare, haunting score and intimate use of the camera brings us directly into the desperate lives of a country's poorest people, struggling to find even occasional pride and sense of belonging.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 21, 2014

"Rich Hill" doesn't just make you feel like you know these boys; it makes you care about them.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Aug 21, 2014