There There

Play trailer

1:27

There There

2022

1h 34m

Drama

Comedy

Romance

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

46%

Tomatometer

28 Reviews

73%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Acclaimed filmmaker Andrew Bujalski (Support the Girls, Computer Chess) explores the precarious nature of human connection in There There, a round robin of emotional two-character vignettes in which seven people reach out and bond momentarily, setting the scene for the next encounter. A pair of new lovers, a woman and her AA sponsor, a teacher and a parent, a lawyer and his client, and more, move from scene to scene, changing partners and beginning a new dance of discovery as they do. Via a groundbreaking shooting process, Bujalski plays with the ideas of isolation and perception by filming each actor individually in separate locations without ever seeing their partner's performance. An extraordinary cast including Jason Schwartzman, Lili Taylor, Lennie James and Molly Gordon sensitively captures the humor and heartbreaking fragility of life and love in the 2020s.

Critics Consensus

There There's unique high concept might be noteworthy, but it isn't strong enough to carry this series of baggy vignettes.

Read Critics Reviews

Ty Burr

Ty Burr's Watch List (Substack)

05/05/2023

2.5/4

About half the vignettes are keepers...

Go to Full Review

Josh Kupecki

Austin Chronicle

11/23/2022

3/5

There There skews its world ever so slightly, arriving at some nicely off-kilter insights amid its non sequiturs, but for all its neat tricks, function is definitely following form here.

Go to Full Review

Brett Buckalew

AV Club

11/21/2022

C+

If the resulting film feels like little more than the cinematic equivalent of a series of B-sides of varying quality strung together, it at least whets the appetite for the next proper cinematic album that Bujalski releases.

Go to Full Review

David Bax

Battleship Pretension

07/27/2023

There There seems like Bujalski’s answer to a film like Dustin Guy Defa’s Person to Person. But where that film was beautifully organic, this one is purely schematic.

Go to Full Review

Tina Kakadelis

Beyond the Cinerama Dome

07/25/2023

The most engaging scenes feature Molly Gordon who has consistently been a formidable presence in films. However, the burden of this film’s script and Covid protocols are too much for her to carry on her own.

Go to Full Review

Matt Pais

MattPais.com

07/03/2023

B-

Pursues complicated truth instead of pointing at a simplified version of it.

Go to Full Review

Read all reviews

Lulu J

@CallMeLulu Mar 25

I gave There There 3.5 stars because it's original, well-written, and pretty smart. I do like films made up of vignettes, but--although it's constructed to be kind of cohesive--these don't really hang together. The construction is interesting--each vignette is comprised of 2 people in dialogue. First vignette: Person A + Person B. Second vignette: Person B+Person C. Third: Person C+Person D. But then the fourth starts with 2 other characters, one of whom carries into the 5th vignette with a new person etc. The film was made during COVID and apparently none of the actors ever saw one another. Again: interesting concept but does it work? Somewhat. But the chemistry that develops between 2 people in the same physical space is missing, and in its place is a dryness---so that "technically," it works, but the warmth of a human element is absent. Critics and maybe the filmmaker (I don't know) could claim that was by intent, to underscore modern alienation and disconnect, but I don't buy it.

See more

Ziggy D

@ZiggyD 10/25/2024

If this movie was a person, it would be a close talker. Annoying camera work and editing. Heavily used close-ups are a distraction. Mixed in are trying-to-be-arthouse clips of random visuals that don't tie in well. Every scene in this film resembles a situation people would look forward to getting out of ASAP. The story arch doesn't take off or land. Get out while you can.

See more

nehin N

@RT63643786 06/30/2023

Unexpectedly great. I love small films.

See more

SUCKED

@MauriceAJones 01/30/2023

The better of Andrew B's film with a great cast, intriguing pacing and heart.

See more

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

POST RATING

Andrew Bujalski

Director

Angela Bedekovic

Actor

Molly Gordon

Actor

Jasmine Skloss Harrison

Actor

Jason Schwartzman

Actor

Lili Taylor

Actor

The Hero

77%

59%

The Hero

Watchlist

TRAILER

for The Hero

The White Fortress

100%

%

The White Fortress

Watchlist

The Seven Faces of Jane

36%

84%

The Seven Faces of Jane

Watchlist

TRAILER

for The Seven Faces of Jane

A Star Shoots Across the Sky

100%

%

A Star Shoots Across the Sky

Watchlist

Level Cross

%

%

Level Cross

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

There There: Trailer 1

1:27

View more videos

View more photos

Synopsis

Acclaimed filmmaker Andrew Bujalski (Support the Girls, Computer Chess) explores the precarious nature of human connection in There There, a round robin of emotional two-character vignettes in which seven people reach out and bond momentarily, setting the scene for the next encounter. A pair of new lovers, a woman and her AA sponsor, a teacher and a parent, a lawyer and his client, and more, move from scene to scene, changing partners and beginning a new dance of discovery as they do. Via a groundbreaking shooting process, Bujalski plays with the ideas of isolation and perception by filming each actor individually in separate locations without ever seeing their partner's performance. An extraordinary cast including Jason Schwartzman, Lili Taylor, Lennie James and Molly Gordon sensitively captures the humor and heartbreaking fragility of life and love in the 2020s.

Director: Andrew Bujalski
Producer: Houston King, Dia Sokol Savage, Sam Bisbee
Screenwriter: Andrew Bujalski
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Production Co: Park Pictures, Houston King Productions, Istic Illic Pictures
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 18, 2022, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 18, 2022
Box Office (Gross USA): $8.3K
Runtime: 1h 34m