Reviews

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  ★★★★ review by Mike D'Angelo on Letterboxd

  76/100

  Second viewing, no change. Tried to comprehend the objections of a few friends who are troubled by the use of rotoscoping and/or (very briefly) rock music, and just didn't see anything remotely exploitative or unseemly. The nonstop emphasis on courage and selflessness in the face of inexplicable horror could hardly be further removed from ghoulishness*, and again repeatedly moved me to tears. Still think Maitland brings the real subjects in way too early, but I see now why he made that choice—the cut from "I guess this is it" (spoken by the young actor playing Claire, animated) to "I guess this is the end" (spoken by the elderly actual Claire, live-action) has exactly the right lacerating effect, and the film's strict chronological approach precludes delaying that moment until later. Fair tradeoff, I guess.

  * Also worth noting: Whitman is so completely effaced that Tower doesn't even show him at the moment that he's gunned down. Not the approach you'd take if your primary goal were to satisfy the audience's bloodlust.

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  ★★★★ review by josh lewis on Letterboxd

  this is uniquely powerful in its choice to barely acknowledge the gunman--who on august 1st, 1966 took the university of texas hostage by climbing the campus tower and firing at civilians below--and instead allow the brave survivors to dictate the way this event is told and remembered. it's harrowing to watch as they recall specific memories of the event (like a saviour's hair colour, or a part of the body that still remembers being preemptively ready to have a bullet penetrate it) and see them complimented by deeply expressive rotoscope animation reenactments that beautifully capture all the detailed, human moments and feelings that swirled around such a tragic day. in the end, it's those brief moments of humanity and bravery that are going to get us through these damn shootings.

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  ★★★★ review by Josh Larsen on Letterboxd

  An inventive exercise in artistic journalism, Tower revisits the 1966 University of Texas mass shooting by dramatizing the memories of those who were there via rotoscoping animation (in which live action is layered with animated effects). The result lends visual poetry to oral history, and thereby offers a particular grace to the survivors of that awful day.

  Full review here.

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  ★★★½ review by matt lynch on Letterboxd

  "I realized that I was a coward."

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  ★★★★ review by Jonathan Rosenbaum on Letterboxd

  A blistering "alternative" to Bogdanovich's "Targets" in terms of both narrative focus and verisimilitude.

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