The reason you need to see Bull... and we do not use that verb lightly, is Morgan.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 11, 2020

How Bull finds connection between people living in the margins is successful thanks primarily to Rob Morgan, whose work here deserves the notice he should have had his entire career.

| May 9, 2020

What I love about this movie is the way that Silverstein sees these communities. Man, she can actually see these communities: who these people are, what they do, how they live. She does not allow herself or this film to slip into any stereotypes.

| May 4, 2020

The patient, observant camera captures the sensitive performances by Havard and Morgan, and they are never less than eloquent and honest.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | May 1, 2020

The film aims for a tone of observant, respectful realism, which results in some slack patches but also has the virtue of honesty.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 1, 2020

It's a stoic work, but its stoicism looks, in the end, like mercy.

| May 1, 2020

This movie has a rare sense of place. It preserves an entire world and the fragile people within it.

| May 1, 2020

The lumpiness of Bull doesn't negate the tenderness and observation that brings its world to life.

| Apr 30, 2020

Set in the unfamiliar world of African-American backyard rodeos, Annie Silverstein's "Bull" handles hot-button issues with a cool eye and a calming tone.

| Apr 30, 2020

Director Annie Silverstein tries to enrich the tropes of her class-conscious buddy scenario by canceling them out.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 26, 2020

While the near-absence of emotional commotion doesn't hobble Bull, there's no question it keeps it tied down.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 22, 2020

You get so wrapped up in rural Texas you'll get the munchies for a corndog.

| Jan 27, 2020

The fact that this never comes across as maudlin is tribute to a director who knows her way through dark places, and a pair of actors who can create a quiet storm.

| May 22, 2019

By resisting sentimentality, the filmmaker, alongside her naturalistic actors, allows us to sit inside the characters' despair so that we appreciate the intensity of its stifling oppression.

| May 22, 2019

A mesmerising film, and one that will linger in the imagination long after the sounds of the crickets have faded.

| May 16, 2019

Compared to Zhao's ethereal achievement, "Bull" is more of an understated footnote that applies the same tropes to the framework of a less sophisticated narrative. It's an engrossing entry all the same...

| Original Score: B | May 15, 2019

Too often, "Bull" leaves us on the outside of what Kris is going through, peering through windows that reflect what we already know about her experience.

| May 15, 2019

A poignantly restrained feature debut.

| May 15, 2019