It’s not the most fun or gripping documentary you’ll ever see but it is unique and for that it’s worth a watch. I gleaned something from watching it. The homeless guy who teaches immigrants how to read and write French is incredibly noble. There are other characters we encounter who are equally fascinating. Opens your eyes up and makes you question your own assumed judgements of scavengers. Watched on DVD after struggling to find it elsewhere.

1001 movies to see before you die. Left leaning documentary that won me over for its uniqueness. It was on CRI.

Such a simple low-budget, documentary, and yet I was glued to it. Agnes Varda has such a goofy, natural way about her, and she has a genuine interest and empathy for her subjects. And it’s so interesting how the gleaners (foragers?) have a history and a recognized place in French society - people just trying to get by. living a sustainable life before is was fashionable.

Agnes picked a good subject to make a documentary out of, to be sure. I may have inadvertently prevented myself from enjoying it by not spending a lot of time watching lesser documentaries to compare this one positively to. I've really only seen a few, most notably When We Were Kings (about Muhammad Ali), and this one just does not compare to that. I liked that she had a unique style and that she inserted herself into the scene, but the parts where she highlights how old she's getting and how much she likes her new camera made the whole thing feel unfocused.

Agnès, I can appreciate that you're trying to be thought-provoking, but that leaky ceiling and the large spot of mold that has formed isn't just an allegory. It's a structural problem and health hazard that needs to be addressed. Still thematically relevant (and likely will remain so until humanity eats itself out of a planet), The Gleaners and I is both a glimpse at the unsustainability of current economics based on endless growth, and the subculture that has sprung up from the quantity produced that falls between the cracks in the quotas. Mercifully, Varda does not present every individual that she catches sourcing potatoes from a field as some sort of perfectly enlightened philosopher demonstrating practical sustainabilty, but instead as a mixture of personalities - those gathering on an ethical basis, and those forced to do so out of a sense of practicality. Introspective if a bit self-important, the film documents Varda not only taking on a sincere social issue but drawing realistic parallels to her own story, the cracks in the 온라인카지노추천 screens mimicking the cracks in her skin as she wonders about the role of utility and purpose. Interesting to contrast this to the Grapes of Wrath; on the one hand, the French legal system arguing on moral grounds that gleaners cannot be denied the right to take what has been left to waste, while on the other America recruits policeman to ensure that not one orange is taken from full orchards to feed starving masses in order to ensure that the price of produce stays high. (3.5/5)

Classic Agnes Varda, the movie has the director looking at the gleaners and the gleaned; the pickers and the picked; the bin rummagers and what they rummage for. The results are beautiful (like all Varda works), fascinating, and something like cinematic journalism. So it's just what a good doc should be. Among all the people who do this out of basic necessity in rural areas, those who do it for collecting or to reuse materials, to those picking through the refuse of the city, Varda speaks with your typical person to the degreed. Why are these people in this position? Just how much of this is people just trying to cut down waste or take some practical approach and how much of it is people just trying to survive? Both/All answers will say something about France and its people. Good stuff, it is. 3.4 stars

A simple but effective way of showing why people do what they do.

De una sencillez maravillosa!

This was an absolutely insightful documentary on a subject I knew pretty much nothing about. It combines articulate documentary storytelling, thoughts on economics and the way we treat one another, not to mention personal connections with director Agnes Varda's own life and experiences. This is the sort of documentary I hope to one day make. Seek it out, you will definitely get something out of it!

Liked this way more than I was expecting to (the idea of a famous New Wave director indulging in the struggles of poverty doesn't really sit well with me). Funny and layered and unpretentious in ways most expose documentaries daren't be. I'm gonna check out more Varda.

I want my $8 back, and not the $8 it cost me to see the movie as that was free. Instead I want $8 back for the free mobile data used to write this review. This movie was so bad that it took my free mobile data and charged me for it. The only thing that could have saved this movie is if it were called snakes on a plane and starred Samuel L Jackson. Dammit, that just reminded me how much I love snakes on a plane... And hot tub time machine.

Wild and wacky. Recommended by Ian Bain, thanks Ian. This is kind of a documentary and also an auteur art film. Agnes Varda is wonderful. The fabric of image and story and social history is expertly woven. A good 'un.

glean is to pick as stalagmite is to stalactite.

Apparently I'm enough of an egotist not to be bothered by the supposed egoism of othersâ"either that, or it isn't here. I thoroughly enjoyed Varda's wonderfully playful, artistic, impressionistic, and deeply humane approach to this subject matterâ"including the âself-portraitâ? aspects wherein she rec...read moreognizes that all art has an element of self-portrait to it, and attempts to âgleanâ? the gleaner Agnes, along with the more traditional gleaners she documents. For the gleaner in all of us, there are innumerable little unexpected treats dropped for us to pick up in this âdocumentary.â? First off, as viewers we need to drop our preconceived notions of what a âdocumentaryâ? is, and like gleaners and scavengers ourselves, humbly accept the leftovers and cast-offs that cross our path. If you have a resourceful scavenging spirit, this film will definitely speak to youâ"as it clearly spoke to so many who have seen it, evidenced in the hour-long follow-up piece which not only revisits some of the subjects of the original film, but displays the outpouring of cards, letters, gifts, and gratitude of viewers who were deeply touched by the film. Gleaners and I deals with some âheavy issuesâ? like poverty, homelessness, alcoholismâ"but it is neither a âheavyâ? film, nor is it frivolous and disrespectful towards it's subjects, which range from street people, gypsies and caravaners, traditional rural gleaners, and urban dumpster divers, to âfound-objectâ? artists, and a myriad of other scavengers from most social strata. What stood out most to me was how intimate, natural, and relaxed was the glimpse I was given of all the people in this film. Don't expect a 60 Minutes approachâ"thank goodness! This is a work of artâ"which just so happens to have an amazing amount to say, or rather show, about the world around us. Bon Appà (C)tit!

Este es un gran documental. Narrada con gran maestría por Agnes Varda, la película hace un recorrido desde la vieja constumbre de cosechar y pasa a sus homólogos modernos de recolección de objetos y aprovechamiento de la comida desechada. En paralelo la autora va desplegando su preocupación por el propio envejecimiento. Varias reflexiones pueden surgir a partir de este documental, en especial en lo relacionado a la sociedad en que viven hoy los franceses y al hecho de que ni siquiera ellos son inmunes a la pobreza material (y también de la otra). Recomendable.

one of the dangers with a documentary is that even if it's (supposedly) well-shot, the subject matter still has to be good for the whole thing to be good. not meeting this second requirement, TG&I fails miserably

Follows its own paths to investigate the things that are left behind and who tries to get them. It's the sense of curiosity that really makes the film work.

Original documentary style film, some honest and interesting points.

Powerful documentary - sometimes difficult but mostly cheerful, and doesn't hit below the belt

Agnes Varda brings forward a very interesting documentary on the tradition of gleaning or picking up discarded food that wasn't brought by farmers to food distributors. It is a practice that is practical in terms of supplementing the food sources for the working poor and a good lesson in how to avoid waste.