[Hollyn and Colie are] not just in the landscape, they’re of it, and Bitterbrush immerses you in their world.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Jan 3, 2023

Emelie Mahdavian’s observational documentary Bitterbrush accumulates in quiet power and poignancy. By the end, it’s unlikely you’ll want to leave the two young women cattle herders that the film follows through the seasons of work.

| Aug 19, 2022

Filmed with earnest simplicity, Bitterbrush is an up-close portrait of two female range riders working in rural Idaho. People who appreciate rancher documentaries and stunning, mountainous cinematography might be interested. Everyone else might be bored.

| Aug 17, 2022

"It conveys emotions that are as big as the Idaho sky while maintaining a tight focus on the two young women and their relationship with each other."

| Jul 13, 2022

Understated yet oddly mesmerizing.

| Jul 8, 2022

Sometimes a story is best told by not telling much at all. The new documentary Bitterbrush is a perfect example.

| Jul 1, 2022

A quietly powerful examination of sisterhood, cultural traditions, and subtle changes in life, this evocative documentary explores a fresh story in a familiar setting.

| Jul 1, 2022

In a sense, Bitterbrush could be viewed as an answer to Nomadland, a movie that highlighted the desperation inherent in itinerant lifestyles in today’s America.

| Jul 1, 2022

Set in remote Idaho, Bitterbrush is a satisfyingly different kind of Western.

| Jun 28, 2022

A nice, observational documentary introducing you to two interesting people and an interesting place which you otherwise wouldn't get to know.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 28, 2022

It’s an engaging look at labor that may be slowly dying out, yet otherwise seems to have changed rather little in a century or two.

| Jun 28, 2022

These women have chosen lives at once exceedingly natural and deeply unconventional. If only Mahdavian had delved into the nitty-gritty of that, and not attempted to fabricate something more cinematic.

| Original Score: 6.7/10 | Jun 21, 2022

Most anyone can relate to it: If we like what we do it’s simply a part of us.

| Jun 20, 2022

This is done across long takes that allow you to soak up the beauty of this landscape with meditative patience. Colie and Hollyn often say little or nothing at all, which is just fine...

| Jun 19, 2022

[W]hen it becomes more about ... [the subjects'] lives outside of that work, the movie hasn't found a meaningful way to invest in that aspect of these two.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 17, 2022

I found myself mesmerized by this spare, affecting, and powerfully humane work that may seem quiet and reserved, but which ends up packing a surprisingly powerful emotional punch by the end.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 17, 2022

BITTERBRUSH is a profound study of female friendship.

| Jun 17, 2022

BITTERBRUSH is a most unusual work. It’s almost like a page out of the old West, with at least one reference to Facebook to remind us this is present day.

| Jun 17, 2022

But if Mahdavian has shown us anything in this film, it's that these two women are tougher and more resilient than most. Even if uncertain times lay ahead, there's nothing they can't accomplish and endure together.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Jun 16, 2022

Hollyn and Colie’s experiences impress not as a spectacle but as a memory of a few seasons, with a wistful touch, before each moved on to her next station in life.

| Jun 16, 2022