X
- 2006
- Not Rated
- IFC Films
- 1 h 25 m
- 2006
- Not Rated
- IFC Films
- 1 h 25 m
Summary Kill the Poor is a rueful and darkly comic tale about the quest to achieve the American Dream, on the Urban frontier. (IFC Films)
Directed By: Alan Taylor
Written By: Joel Rose, Daniel Handler
- 2006
- Not Rated
- IFC Films
- 1 h 25 m
- 2006
- Not Rated
- IFC Films
- 1 h 25 m
Kill the Poor
52
Summary Kill the Poor is a rueful and darkly comic tale about the quest to achieve the American Dream, on the Urban frontier. (IFC Films)
Directed By: Alan Taylor
Written By: Joel Rose, Daniel Handler
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
52
43% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
57% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
52
43% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
57% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Result hovers a little uncertainly between dark comedy and urban drama, but remains compelling thanks to its gritty narrative texture, nervous energy and loose, jumpy structure, which fit well with the DV-shot production's no-frills approach.
Taylor makes the most of his tiny budget with creative editing and shooting, though his New York City is anemic, narrow, and underpopulated, and his constant repetition of the same damn 60 seconds of music becomes excruciating.
If you know there's so such place as Avenue E in the East Village, or if you've ever taken a bath in your kitchen, this one's for you.
Sort of a poor man's "Rent" - minus the music and the AIDS - and much blander than the title would have you expect.
There's potential here for an incendiary riff on gentrification and its discontents, but the result is only lukewarm. While the ensemble is as pungent as its assorted clichés will permit, the cruddy video photography and haphazard organization of plot blunt the wry thrust of the material.
Shot on a modest DV budget, Kill the Poor isn't pretty, but it's a balanced look at the dirty politics of gentrification.
As an overwrought, overacted drama, Kill the Poor is negligible.