Easily one of the hidden jewels of the 2008 Indianapolis International Film Festival.

| Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 25, 2020

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 18, 2011

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 17, 2011

This sullen dramatic thriller is introspective to the point of being navel-gazing. And its up-to-interpretation form of 'conclusion' is fairly pretentious.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 12, 2008

It's close but no cigar for first time writer/director Charles Oliver as he bashes his unfortunate audience with a preachy and one-dimensional exposition of revenge wearing restoration clothing.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Aug 18, 2008

A dreadfully misguided movie whose story of redemption is utterly irredeemable.

| Original Score: 0/5 | Aug 15, 2008

Clean but adult-themed movie that takes an intense look at extreme forgiveness and restorative justice.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 13, 2008

The talky redemption element, however, ultimately feels artificially tacked on.

| Aug 13, 2008

This is a slow burn of a film. You'll have to commit to seeing it, but the rewards for doing so are great.

| Original Score: B- | Aug 13, 2008

This is an uneven directorial debut -- but not an unaccomplished one. Oliver is a name to look out for -- it would be great to see what would happen if he worked with someone else's script.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 13, 2008

Stylistically as well as thematically complex.

Full Review | Aug 13, 2008

Oliver's film manages to grapple with some knotty questions about justice, even if it is not nearly as bold or ironic as Lee Chang-dong's "Secret Sunshine"

Full Review | Aug 13, 2008

Take is too enamored of its time-shifting gimmick and cheap suspense to ultimately have much impact.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 25, 2008

Charles Oliver's directing debut, Take, unfolds in sun-baked Southwestern locations, but it's a dreary affair all the same.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 25, 2008

This melodrama about capital punishment has no shades of gray, only beige.

| Original Score: C- | Jul 24, 2008

Resides in the same lives-intersect-through-tragedy wheelhouse as 21 Grams and Monster's Ball, without those films' romantic underpinnings or powerhouse performances.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 24, 2008

Take suffers from story overload, which is distracting.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jul 24, 2008

Obscured by ugly, dark photography, a jumbled script, mumbled performances, and clueless direction that make it impossible to see or hear a lot of what's going on even if you cared, the result is a film of monumental incompetence.

| Jul 23, 2008

A frantic mother and a desperate criminal cross paths with devastating results in first-time writer and director Charles Oliver's emotionally charged drama.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 18, 2008

Dramatically, however, Take consistently works, and, with such a story, that's an amazing thing.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 18, 2008