Popular reviews

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  Review by The Armando Jimenez ★★½

  I honestly fear that this will be my life after I miserably fail in becoming a director. Very Very dull life with balls-out cinematography.

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  Review by {Todd} ★★★★

  ***This was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of writers and actors like those currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn't exist.***

  
  "But that's what the algorithm is for!" - Aaron,

  OMG....

  I am so glad that Adrian Murray seems to have never gotten therapy because I get to benefit from his neurosis coming out on the screen. I watched this because I find his film from last year, Retrograde, to be brilliant and I wanted to see a second film to get a sense of his style. His style, now confirmed, is super cringey looks into the tension and profaneness of the mundane, and I fucking love it. In Withdrawn it feels…

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  Review by Evan ★★★★½ 7

  Withdrawn is one of my favorite films from the last few years. I've read a lot of things about it, both good and bad. Many have complained that it's boring and nothing happens. I've read that it's painful to watch, which I believe was in reference to the main character's depressingly realistic situation. And I've read that the cinematography is great. For me, the beauty of Withdrawn is its structure. We see scene after scene of this character, both when he's alone and with other people. The entire film is a glimpse into his life. There's a story arc as well, and contrary to what many have said, things do happen. But they're not the kinds of things that movies…

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  Review by junglejujube ★★

  Really painful to watch. Its sort of nightmarish how awful it would be if you were to actually live the type of life portrayed in this movie.

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  Review by Hot Books ★★★½

  Imagine being the SXSW programmer who rejected this cos he/she needed to make room in the festival schedule for yet another SLACKER anniversary screening and seven new Joe Swanberg-related films. Old man Linklater was breathing down said programmer's neck with sativa breath. Sinister chill.

  WITHDRAWN. A film in which both nothing happens and nothing needs to. The feng shui is that good. Drummers, man.

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  Review by funessn ★★★★

  A good portrait of a type of person I hate. A very specific type of person. It’s impressive.

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  Review by Alanna Why ★★★★

  The humour of Clerks with the composition of Certain Women. Slow-paced, but extremely compelling. Everything that Aaron says is gold and the joke about buying a bus ticket to Ajax killed me. I would like this movie even if my brother-in-law and all of his friends hadn't made it. Watch it on Netflix! (At Olivia and Marcus' house with Marcus doing live commentary.)

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  Review by Rakestraw ★★½

  Withdrawn is a fitting title for Adrian Murray’s feature-length debut as nearly every aspect of the production appears to inhabit some form of withdrawal within its process. Granted, the title seems to directly refer to the specifics of the film’s narrative regarding a young man plotting to withdraw funds from someone else’s misplaced credit card, but it also extends itself outward, permeating every inch of the film’s fabric.

  Again, in regards to the plotline, the title’s usage is appropriate for obvious reasons. Although, it also doubles as a misdirect in the sense that the film is hardly about a young man with deficient funds scheming to defund a credit card company through stolen identities. In fact, the actual screen-time devoted…

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  Review by Helga von Soames ★★★

  Not as tight and pitch perfect as Retrograde but you can see the brilliance to come. Adrian has the ear (and heart) for the bleak pulse of our dismal lives. I’m a devotee.

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  Review by Grant ★★★½

  Dean's story about dropping fries on the ground is this film's Story Of Everest.

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  Review by Joel Mandelkorn ★★½

  Assuming we're now getting going with "boredcore" as a subgenre... Not necessarily a criticism BECAUSE I GET IT.

  Sadly, this is more grounded and relatable than 90% of 2020s film and television. There's a ho-hum doldrum artistry to the blandness of the character and story. It still manages to layer in dramatic and comedic awkwardness and insights, even if everyone kind of sucks. The finale scene is a pretty great lowkey punchline to the whatever-ness that precedes.

  Molly Reisman shows up, and that's great.

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  Review by ✧༺⌾⃝༻✧ ★★★★½

  I loved this film! I know barely anything happens in it but it is a reflection of how shitty life is for many college age people who don’t know wtf they’re doing in life.