THE ISTER: Reviews
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"An impressive philosophical exercise and a meditative work of cinematic beauty."

BBC [more]

"a stimulating three-hour journey in time, space and the mind"

Philip French, The Observer [more]

"Unprecedented in its intellectual ambition...endlessly stimulating"

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader [more]

"The headiest, head-scratching-est, damnedest, most demanding movie opening this week in New York"

J. Hoberman, The Village Voice [more]

"a conceptual and visual masterpiece"

DocPoint, Helsinki Documentary Film Festival [more]

"The Ister has been playing to packed houses everywhere from Rotterdam to Sydney and Melbourne. Few people have seen anything like it before"

"This high ambition makes The Ister, which runs for three hours and took some five years to produce, an important test of whether the philosophical impulse can survive in the new world of images."

Adam Kirsch, The New York Sun [more]

"a philosophical feast --- at which it is possible to gorge oneself yet leave feeling elated"

"a layered and rigorous meditation on place and ethics that is strangely affirming"

"an original undertaking"

Artforum International [more - PDF 1MB]

"brave, original, and well-crafted..."

"The Ister is, as Lévi-Strauss said in another context, “good to think.”"

"possesses a visual beauty that's rare in the documentary field... an impressive cinematic tribute to the river from which it takes its name"

"The ultimate philosophical road movie"

Hamish Ford, RealTime [more]

"Three amazingly compelling hours"

San Francisco Bay Guardian [more]

"Avec une grande poésie, les réalisateurs permettent ainsi d’appréhender la complexité du monde contemporain à partir de la pensée d’un des philosophes majeurs du XXe siècle."

L'Humanité [more]

"passionante croisière philosophique"
("a gripping philosophical journey")

"the find of the festival"

"For people interested in questioning the philosophical background to the turbulent events of 20th century, The Ister is a grim, yet seamlessly filmed accompaniment."

Close-Up Film [more]

"The formal ingenuity and audacity with which Barison and Ross achieve this coup de cinema is breathtaking"

George Robinson, The Jewish Week [more]

"a visual and intellectual feast unlike any other you will see, at once rigorous and yet strangely elating"

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival [more]

"The Ister could well become a milestone in a new era of autonomy and creative freedom in the Australian cinematic landscape"

"Magic"

"an intensely engaged and exquisitely crafted portrait of the Big Questions: Being, War, Ethics, Politics, Technology, and - yes - even The Meaning Of Life."

"The film demands a lot from the spectator, but it's worth it, because much insight is provided into the fascinating thoughts of Heidegger and into the foundations of Western civilisation"

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