The Western is alive and well, just looking a bit different.

| Dec 12, 2024

The drama sputters and fails to catch fire; it's as if Gilford is far less interested in kindling things and prefers to just look at his pretty cast in a variety of lighting schemes... That said, the toothsome cast is well worth watching.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 3, 2024

The film’s tenderness is borne from its tactility, an emphasis on the physical touch that connects characters.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 9, 2024

National Anthem is at its openhearted, poetically inclined best when observing an alternate vision of the American West that’s no less possible for being radical.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 18, 2024

A tender and uncomplicated tale about a young man feeling through his sexuality after a troupe of queer ranchers take him under their wing.

| Jul 15, 2024

"National Anthem" is tender and sweet, and it expresses all of these things in its visual language, allowing these sensations to be present without speaking them out loud.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 14, 2024

Plummer’s performance, a marvel of the taciturn turned wide awake, sets him up as one of the great actors of his generation.

| Original Score: B | Jul 12, 2024

It’s not a grand landscape but a small portrait of wistfulness and wanting in the West, fluttering and touching.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 11, 2024

Director/co-screenwriter Luke Gilford’s professional resume and his personal brushes with queer rodeo give this feature debut a sense of authenticity as it captures a unique, expressive and welcoming home on the range.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 10, 2024

More than anything, Gilford’s film ought to be lauded for the way it continues telling a story about a subculture that few know exist.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 10, 2024

“National Anthem” seems impossibly idyllic yet palpably authentic at the same time

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jul 10, 2024

Though lushly lensed by cinematographer Katelin Arizmendi, there isn’t much under the quietly glam veneer of National Anthem.

| Original Score: C- | Jul 9, 2024

Beyond its touching love story, National Anthem shares with Gilford’s monograph a striking directness in its presentation of the queer rodeo community. The film feels delicately radical.

| Jun 28, 2024

A glorious portrait of rural queer Americana.

| Sep 22, 2023

Rather than dismiss Sky as a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, I’ll speak more bluntly: She’s an empty vessel of a character who exists only for Dylan’s growth and projections.

| Sep 15, 2023

National Anthem grants familiar coming-of-age beats a fresh backdrop.

| Mar 20, 2023

A tender and moving piece about how it often takes other people to help us find ourselves.

| Mar 17, 2023

A nice mix of sawdust and sentiment.

| Mar 11, 2023