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The Arbor (film)

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The Arbor
British release poster
Directed byClio Barnard
Produced by
Release date
  • 22 October 2010 (2010-10-22)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office$126,182[1]

The Arbor is a 2010 British film about Andrea Dunbar, directed by Clio Barnard.[2][3][4] The film uses actors lip-synching to interviews with Dunbar and her family, and concentrates on the strained relationship between Dunbar and her daughter Lorraine.[5][6][7]

Cast

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Production

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The film was shot in and around Brafferton Arbor, a street on the Buttershaw Estate in Bradford, West Yorkshire, where Andrea Dunbar lived and worked.

The film was inspired[8] by so-called verbatim theatre, with audio recordings of Lorraine Dunbar and other family members, lip-synched by professional actors in set-designed environments. Barnard had used a similar technique for her 1998 short film Random Acts of Intimacy.[9] The film also includes from Dunbar’s autobiographical play The Arbor performed outdoors by a mix of actors and estate residents, the 1986 film Rita, Sue and Bob Too written by Dunbar, Robin Soans' 2000 play A State Affair, as well as archive footage.[10][9]

Barnard's original intention for this film was not to make it about Andrea Dunbar, but after speaking with her eldest daughter, Lorraine, that is what emerged. The film was intended to be about the changes that had come to the Brafferton Arbor.[9]

Reception

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On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 96% based on 46 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Smart and inventive, The Arbor offers some intensely memorable twists on tired documentary tropes."[11]

Further reading

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  • "The Arbor". BFI Southbank Programme Notes. British Film Institute. 11 April 2023.
  • "Rita, Sue and Bob Too". BFI Southbank Programme Notes. British Film Institute. 16 April 2023.

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ "The Arbor (2010)". Box Office Mojo. IMDbPro. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  2. ^ "Clio Barnard's The Arbor is out of lip-synch with reality". The Guardian. 25 October 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  3. ^ Weber, Bill (26 April 2011). "Review: The Arbor". Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  4. ^ King, Loren (22 July 2011). "The Arbor". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  5. ^ "The Arbor - review". The Guardian. 21 October 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  6. ^ Calhoun, Dave. "The Arbor". Time Out Worldwide. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  7. ^ Kohn, Eric (25 April 2011). "REVIEW - Non-Fiction Innovation: Clio Barnard's "The Arbor"". Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  8. ^ Hubert, Craig (29 April 2011). "The Arbor: Clio Barnard". BOMB Magazine. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  9. ^ a b c Smith, Damon (27 April 2011). "Clio Barnard: The Arbor". Filmmaker Magazine. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  10. ^ "The Arbor (2010)". BFI. Archived from the original on 11 August 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  11. ^ "The Arbor". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  12. ^ "BAFTA nominated Kent filmmaker". BBC. 2 February 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  13. ^ Lodderhose, Diana (28 October 2010). "'Summer' nabs top honors at BFI London Film Fest". Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  14. ^ "Sheffield Doc/Fest: how the documentary got democratised". The Guardian. 9 November 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  15. ^ "King's Speech reigns at British Independent Film awards". BBC News. 6 December 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  16. ^ "First sight: Clio Barnard". The Guardian. 9 September 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
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