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- 2009
- PG-13
- 1 h 32 m
- 2009
- PG-13
- 1 h 32 m
Summary In this pulse-pounding eco-thriller, a crack team of divers, activists and special effects experts infiltrate a secret cove in Japan to expose one of history's most shocking and unimaginable crimes against nature. Winner of the Audience Award at this year's Sundance Film Festival, 'The Cove' is sure to be one of the most talked about fil...
Directed By: Louie Psihoyos
Written By: Mark Monroe
- 2009
- PG-13
- 1 h 32 m
- 2009
- PG-13
- 1 h 32 m
The Cove
7.9
Where to Watch
Summary In this pulse-pounding eco-thriller, a crack team of divers, activists and special effects experts infiltrate a secret cove in Japan to expose one of history's most shocking and unimaginable crimes against nature. Winner of the Audience Award at this year's Sundance Film Festival, 'The Cove' is sure to be one of the most talked about fil...
Directed By: Louie Psihoyos
Written By: Mark Monroe
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 26 Critic Reviews
84
100% Positive
26 Reviews
26 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 26 Critic Reviews
84
100% Positive
26 Reviews
26 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Not only does it deliver a powerful message, but it is wrapped in an immensely entertaining package.
The end of The Cove is as rousing as anything from Hollywood. Manipulative? Sure--but isn't that fitting? Capitalism has driven an entire village to massacre dolphins and keep its work hidden.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 71 User Ratings
7.9
87% Positive
62 Ratings
62 Ratings
4% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
8% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 71 User Ratings
7.9
87% Positive
62 Ratings
62 Ratings
4% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
8% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
The Cove was an incredible documentary and I highly recommend it! It definitely opened my eyes to something that I never knew was happening with the ocean animals and made my very sad that this is even going on. I hope this documentary moves you like it did me!
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I think this documentry was very good and expressed a ton of information on the cruel sitution going on in Japan. I give this a 10, Rick O' Berry is truly a dolphin saver. The things he has done sacrificing his own life for the dolphins is amazing. He goes out of his own way. It makes me sad to know innocent animals are getting killed, Thanks to Take Part and The Cove, the number of dolphins being killed has decresed greatly over the years. I'm glad a group like Take Part took a step and made an impact and changes of the ways in Japan. The Cove has greatly helped and changed the outcomes of dolphin deaths a year. Good Job 10
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The Cove is properly enchanting, horrifying, and rousing, but it comes dangerously close to making the narcissistic case that dolphins deserve to be saved because they're cute and breathe air like we do.
The Cove is the rare documentary specifically designed as a thriller.
The caper-movie touches and cocky self-awareness may wear thin, but you can't discount the importance, or the horror, of that footage.
The Cove plays like a thriller. It has the breathless pace of a "Bourne" movie, but none of the comfort of fiction. This is documentary filmmaking at its most exciting and purposeful.
The Cove's ultimate message gets muddled, especially since Psihoyos limits all counter-arguments to a few inarticulate or thuggish boobs.
This movie, purely based off directing aspects, can be called a beautiful movie, the pacing, the beautiful music, the video mixing and editing, and other general directing aspects. Purely based off just how good a movie it is, I can tell you that its amazing, its beautiful, you wont see anything like it, it will make you smile, it will make you cry, it will send chills down your spine, and it will make you clench your fist in anger. This movie is truly remarkable, its extremely uplifting, and by the end of it, you have to stop yourself from jumping on the internet and buying a plane ticket to Taiji, Japan with a baseball bat in your luggage. I would recommend any one to watch it, from the people who watch it for environmental reasons, and for people that just want to see a good movie.
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It's massively incredible how this film provokes such anger, tension as well as passion in it. Words can barely describe how painful and powerful this documentary is, and the lengths to which human monstrosity can extend to. I gauruntee for those who see a little glimpse of my way, you will surely stand up for it and fight against this thing--at least in disgust. The most important film to watch.
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If rating this movie based completely off directing aspects: it can be called beautiful. The pacing, the beautiful score, the video mixing and editing, and other general directing aspects have all been done very well. The movie manages to make you laugh, cry, smile, all in the space of few minutes. It has a bit of everything, Louie Psihoyos has done an amazing job, especially when considering this is his first piece of directing work. His next work, The Singing Planet, will be releasing in 2012, which I am much looking forward to. This is easily one of the best documentaries out there, and if some one argues that documentaries are a stale genre, show them this. It is extremely uplifting and sends a great message: if we can't fix something this small, we have no hope of fixing anything else. By the end of it, you have to stop yourself from jumping on the internet and buying a plane ticket to Taiji, Japan with a baseball bat in your luggage. I would recommend any one to watch it, from the people who watch it for environmental reasons, and for people that just want to see a great movie
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Well shot, but not a great film. It seems to make the Japanese look like such terrible people for killing dolphins just because Americans had Flipper and now care about that animal more than others. If you watched this and agree it's terrible because killing animals is always bad, then that is fine, but if you meat, then you have no basis to judge these people for what meat they choose to eat.
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massively overhyped and patronising propaganda piece that clutches at any anecdote or emotional heartstring-pulling possible in an attempt to illicit outrage without ever properly investigating the facts or trying to understand why the dolphin killing continues. Repeatedly tells us how many dolphins are killed in the cove in an attempt to shock, but doesn't put this into any ecological or ethical context. Seems to try very hard to portray the americans as fearless fighters against the evil japanese dolphin-killers.
Does the killing of the dolphins cause any threat to the species? The film tells us with vitriol that WWF and the International Whaling Commission have done nothing about it, suggesting that they are at fault, but perhaps they are concentrating efforts elsewhere because the dolphins are not endangered species? Of course no one from these organisations gets to put across their view.
The film tells us that the dolphin meat contains high levels of mercury, then shows shocking images of people made sick by mercury at some point in the past. But what actually caused that incident? How did mercury levels those people were exposed to compare to those in the dolphin meat? What is the evidence that the levels now can cause harm? But the viewer is not supposed to ask these questions - JUST LOOK AT THE SICK CHILDREN! Briefly glosses over the question of why the dolphin killing is any more wrong than westerners killing cows and pigs without presenting any strong argument - assumes the audience is already in agreement on this. Tries to convince us that it can't possibly be a tradition by asking a few people in Tokyo - okay, well how about the local community, what do they think about it? Is the local economy dependent on the hunt, and if so, could an alternative income be found?
Uses pseudoscience to try to persuade us of the intelligence of dolphins - a sound clip of a 'scientist' saying that dolphins may be more intelligent than humans - by what measure? How do you know that? I don't doubt that dolphins are intelligent, but the film completely fails to demonstrate this. Then there are anthropomorphic anecdotes about dolphins appearing to 'commit suicide' or save a surfer from a shark, and people feeling that they had a 'connection' with a dolphin.
The footage of the dolphin slaughter is shocking indeed, and the sight of the sea turned red is certainly highly emotive, although I expect any footage of an abbatoir in the US could look similarly horrific.. it's clear that the cruelty inflicted on the dolphins is the main wrong being committed here, but little is said about this in the film.
Perhaps the makers thought that any more sophisticated analyses or insight would put audiences off and thereby reduce the impact that film could have. The film will probably have a strong impact on those who like to have something to feel self-righteous about without having to think very hard. But those who are after an objective, reasoned and insightful documentary should look elsewhere.
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Production Company
Diamond Docs,
Fish Films,
Oceanic Preservation Society,
Participant,
Quickfire Films
Release Date Jul 31, 2009
Duration 1 h 32 m
Rating PG-13
Genres
Tagline Shallow Water. Deep Secret.
Website
https://www.facebook.com/TheCove
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Cinema Eye Honors Awards, US
• 3 Wins & 7 Nominations
Nantucket Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations
