While the film's scenery may seem uninhabitably otherworldly, the central narrative of revenge and forgiveness has an elemental, human appeal.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 8, 2023

Kunuk's cameras send back pictures of alarming visual clarity. For every moment when the film seems most what it is -- a directorial debut -- there are three moments both ancient and human.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 8, 2023

Natar Ungalaaq is especially good as the title character; his naked run, a Northern Exposure of the trust kind deserves some kind of award, if not medal for bravery.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 8, 2023

A cinematic marvel that stands to challenge just about everything you thought you knew about movie-making, life in general -- and your role in both.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Nov 8, 2023

Although its powerfully unaffected performances and sociological aspects make Atanarjuat an increasingly riveting slice of life, it's Norman Cohn's lustrous cinematography of its vast horizons, enhanced by that stunning Arctic light, that stands out most.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 8, 2023

The cultural and historical significance of The Fast Runner is modest when compared to the experience of sitting through The Fast Runner itself. It's an extraordinary, absorbing film, a landmark by any standard.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Nov 8, 2023

Natar Ungalaaq, a well-known Inuit sculptor and actor, is impishly appealing as Atanarjuat, a hunter perhaps too besotted with his own talents. In his first acting role, Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq is menacing as Oki.

| Nov 8, 2023

Not only one of the most intriguing feature-film projects in decades and enough plain-spoken anthropology for three credits at Harvard, but one of the most flat-out entertaining movies of the year.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Nov 8, 2023

With its juxtaposition of day-to-day events and epic storytelling, the movie makes this culture seem both ancient and vibrantly current.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 8, 2023

Natar Ungalaaq, a prominent Inuit sculptor and actor, anchors the drama in the robust role of Atanarjuat, and he manages to make the man both grandly heroic and frustratingly human.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Nov 8, 2023

The pictures that tell the story are fascinating, like watching an episode of "Survivor: The Frozen Tundra," as we observe people carving their existence from plains of snow.

| Original Score: B+ | Nov 8, 2023

The Fast Runner is primal, earthy, funny, startling and endlessly mysterious. And despite its length, I was thoroughly engrossed from first frame to last.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Nov 8, 2023

Kuluk's film abounds in almost biblical drama, but its strongest element is its environment, a harsh, but beautiful land.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 8, 2023

What Atanarjuat accomplishes is to tell an old story in a new setting, a place so far off any path we would recognize that we could scarcely recognize it.

| Nov 8, 2023

If anything, it should accomplish its mission of making people curious about this rarely filmed culture.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 8, 2023

To say that The Fast Runner feels authentic is a drastic understatement; before you're too far along in this nearly three-hour epic you forget that this is a movie made with modern equipment and a behind-the-scenes crew.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 8, 2023

The film is timeless to the point of being as interminable as its endless horizons, but it's full of astonishing images.

| Nov 8, 2023

Spellbinding as storytelling, it also prompts admiration for the Inuit people's patience, resilience and their overriding concern for harmony with the world around them.

| Nov 8, 2023

Inuit sculptor Natar Ungalaaq is compelling as the brave, robust Atanarjuat, and the other Inuit actors give a raw authenticity to this unusual film.

| Nov 8, 2023

Running close to three hours, it's a long film but also one of those movies that almost physically transports you to another place.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 8, 2023