The Unknown Country is a meditative film, a beautiful exploration of the human condition. It's dreamy and contemplative at times, but manages to always remain interesting. Director Morissa Maltz has made a film that feels somewhat documentary like. It follows the central character in Tana, a Native American woman from Minnesota, who recently lost her grandmother. She decides to follow her trip she did many years ago to Texas. Along the way she reconnects with family in South Dakota, where she attends a wedding. Also on the journey she meets real life people who give her their story. These are really beautiful moments as we hear their interesting stories. This film lacks a real narrative structure, but it's really about memories and connections. Lily Gladstone is superb as Tana. And the mostly unknown cast shine as well in this wonderful little film.

The film is half documentary like, with real life stories at each pit stop along a road trip. Some stories are not interesting than others, but movie as a whole seems flat. Good ending though.

This movie was boring. At best, it should have been a 30 minute short movie, rather than an hour and a half feature film. But there wasn't much to it. It felt like a documentary of a very slow moving road trip, which was meaningful for the lead character, but not for me.

This is a road trip that I'm so glad I took.

A lovely, quiet film built on a bisecting journey from Minnesota to South Dakota, then on to the Texas/Mexico border. Lead figure Tana seeks to find the location where her recently deceased grandmother's photo was taken long ago in some southwestern countryside in west Texas, and maybe find some solace and closure in its completion. Often visually impressive, "The Unknown Country" covers South Dakota's stark rural look along with long, long stretches of straight narrow highways on down to Texas as Tana stops in small towns, motel locales, and briefly into the lives of those who inhabit them. She finds some connection and joy in the stories, personalities, and dance halls of everyday people who've settled down far off the main tracts. Led by stand out work by the remarkable Lily Gladstone, this is an impressive feature debut by director/writer Morrisa Maltz. 3.3 stars

Not gonna lie. This one is gonna got you in the feels. It's just too long. It starts to bore.

What a wonderful little gem. Thanks for taking us along on the journey.

This movie way beyond beautiful. It left me with so many emotions. I highly recommend that you check this one out. The lead actress does a breathtaking job.

Morrisa Maltz's beautiful film "The Unknown Country" is the best movie of this year, and also the most important one. It's a perfect and seamless film, with an unforgettable performance by Lily Gladstone that's among the finest of its kind in cinema history. I saw the movie twice on the only two screens on which it showed in all of New England. From the brilliant widescreen landscape cinematography to the just-right music by Neil Halstead of the shoegaze band Slowdive, this movie takes you on a distinctive, heartfelt journey to the center of America and what America means, in senses both small and profound. It's also one of the most intelligent films out there on the theme of individual and cultural grief.

Absolutely my favorite film of the year so far. A truly stunning, dreamlike slice-of-life panorama with a brave, astonishing lead performance by Lily Gladstone, who says more with a glance than most actors can with a page of dialogue. Morrisa Maltz's clever, empathetic blend of documentary elements with her tender narrative and Andrew Hajek's world-class cinematography really work for me in a way I don't think many other filmmakers could pull off. A beautiful exploration of grief and identity with more heart than I've seen in a film in a long time.

Absolutely loved it, documentary style really captured the journey and landscape in an intimate manner.

I thought the mix of documentary elements within the flow of the story was carried out so well and with such heart. The technique is similar to Nomadland in a way, but by giving these characters voices and narratives that were self contained, it felt even more true and vital. The images all felt exactly right – that's what those places look like!! Mary Oliver forever. Lily Gladstone forever. What a brilliant piece, it made me want to live in Michigan again.

A visual poem dedicated to the states and people found along the Central Time Zone. This is what every road-trip movie wishes it could be.

It's a film that's stuck in my head ever since I saw it at a festival. Emotionally powerful and insanely human, the beauty of the landscapes and the sincerity of the stories told is a delight for all fans of independent films. And that poetic ending ...

5 stars. I left in a dreamlike daze. Did I just take that road trip?

Absolute masterpiece.

Five stars!!!!!!!!!! Love love love!!! I will go on this journey with Lily Gladstone again and again.

Maltz and Gladstone have created the most human movie of the year.

Brilliant, moving, a true experience. Lily Gladstone is phenomenal. Never seen anything like it.

Bring this to more theaters everywhere please so people can experience what I just saw and felt on the big screen. One of a kind, we need more movies like this.