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Tape

  • 20012001
  • RR
  • 1h 26m
IMDb RATING
7.2/10
20K
YOUR RATING
Tape (2001)
Three old high school friends meet in a Michigan motel room to dissect painful memories from their past.
Play trailer2:03
1 Video
35 Photos
Drama
Three old high school friends meet in a Michigan motel room to dissect painful memories from their past.Three old high school friends meet in a Michigan motel room to dissect painful memories from their past.Three old high school friends meet in a Michigan motel room to dissect painful memories from their past.
IMDb RATING
7.2/10
20K
YOUR RATING
    • Richard Linklater
    • Stephen Belber(screenplay)
    • Ethan Hawke
    • Robert Sean Leonard
    • Uma Thurman
    • Richard Linklater
    • Stephen Belber(screenplay)
    • Ethan Hawke
    • Robert Sean Leonard
    • Uma Thurman
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 116User reviews
    • 51Critic reviews
    • 71Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 2:03
    Watch Trailer

    Photos35

    Ethan Hawke and Robert Sean Leonard in Tape (2001)
    Ethan Hawke in Tape (2001)
    Uma Thurman in Tape (2001)
    Uma Thurman and Robert Sean Leonard in Tape (2001)
    Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, Richard Linklater, and Maryse Alberti in Tape (2001)
    Richard Linklater at an event for Tape (2001)
    Richard Linklater at an event for Tape (2001)
    Richard Linklater at an event for Tape (2001)
    Richard Linklater at an event for Tape (2001)
    Robert Sean Leonard in Tape (2001)
    Tape (2001)
    Tape (2001)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Ethan Hawke
    Ethan Hawke
    • Vin
    Robert Sean Leonard
    Robert Sean Leonard
    • Jon
    Uma Thurman
    Uma Thurman
    • Amy
      • Richard Linklater
      • Stephen Belber(screenplay) (play)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The set is not an actual motel room, as many viewers assumed, but carefully constructed (and designed by Stephen Beatrice) on a sound stage and including many remarkable details, such as the curtain being cut around the air conditioner, and stains on the wall that betray missing pictures.
    • Goofs
      Vince closes and hides the blue box containing all his cocaine paraphernalia when Amy knocks on the door. However when she then calls the police, in his mad rush to exit, he once again closes and puts the blue box in his bag.
    • Quotes

      Amy: People change. They end up having nothing to say to each other even if they were best friends years before.

    • Crazy credits
      The end credits move across the screen in the motions of tape inside a playing cassette.
    • Connections
      Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Overlooked Gems from Well-Known Directors (2015)
    • Soundtracks
      I'm Sorry
      Performed by Brenda Lee

      Written by Ronnie Self and Dub Allbritten

      Published by Universal Champion Music

      Courtesy of MCA Records

      Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

      [Played during end credits]

    User reviews116

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    Past ignited in motel room....
    This film took me two days to decide whether I liked it or not. When the final credits rolled, rather creatively at that, I couldn't figure out if this was pure brilliance on the part of Richard Linklater, or if it was nothing more than a group of friends trying to make an independent film. I could not decide. I even listened to the audio commentary of Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater to see if I could capture their mood of the film to hopefully influence mine. While it was a very interesting audio commentary, it only provided more indecisiveness. After thinking about this for two days, I finally thought about it long enough and realized that if a film makes you think for two days after viewing, there has to be something spectacular about it, and there was. After two days I was able to put my finger on it. You had a very chilling story, a deeply disturbing confession, a powerhouse of acting by Robert Sean Leonard and Uma Thurman, and then there was Ethan Hawke. I put him aside because it was his acting, his portrayal of Vince that took away the inches of film that nearly made it into perfection. Let me explain.

    This is a story, that on the surface seems small, is very large in structure. While its only setting is inside a motel room, the written word by Stephen Belber transforms this into a thrilling drama about past lives and future consequences. From the opening scene of Hawke throwing his beers into the motel door until the final dramatic conclusion where Vince is caught up in the web of his own lies, we never really know anything about him. Leonard talks briefly about what he is doing and why he is currently single, but we never really get to know Ethan's character. This is what muddled in my mind for those two days, I continually had to ask myself who Vince really was. Was he a friend trying to help Leonard with a guilty conscious, or was he on the side of Amy trying to give her the conclusion that she wanted. Who knows? I think I needed more structure with Ethan's Vince. We needed more from Linklater to help us understand this self-appointed villain, or even more from Ethan to reveal his ultimate purpose. Instead, what occurred was Ethan just jumping around being annoying with no purpose except what you could hear Linklater telling him. Here is what I could hear: "Ok, Ethan, your purpose in this scene is to ensure that Leonard doesn't leave, do whatever it takes". Ethan takes this direction and adds a couple of swear words and uses screaming to keep him in the room instead of countering with more plot. Does this make sense? I felt like I knew why Leonard and Thurman were there in that room, but WHY Ethan was bringing them together was never told. I know that perhaps it was left up to the viewer, but this story needed a hint. It needed to provide some reasoning for the situation. I felt Ethan held us back from learning that. Someone else in the role may have done better, but Ethan just felt lost and stagy.

    As I said before, Leonard and Thurman really carried this film on their shoulders. I was impressed to see Leonard taking such heavy work, but his true acting ability really came forth. The same goes for Uma who successfully took the idea of "husband and wife" away while working with Ethan. I was concerned that it would be a factor in Tape, but luckily these two were able to keep their characters separate. The chemistry that Leonard and Thurman had on screen was shattering. I found myself holding my breath during their parts from both emotion and the tension that they created. Outside of Ethan, they did a great job.

    The story was a very tight story. I loved being brought into the middle of this controversy and seeing that a world can be created and destroyed in a hotel room. I thought that concept was a hard one to tackle, but Stephen Belber (who also wrote the play) did a fantastic job of eliminating the corporate element and giving us the pure human drama that exists between these characters. Linklater likewise really pulls this film together well by keeping the tensions high and elaborate as our characters progress through the phases of this predicament. The only trouble I had with Linklater's direction deals with his swirling camera. Whenever two people were talking to each other we found ourselves swirling between the two instead of using one large shot or quick cuts. I thought this was annoying at times, and quite dizzying. It detracted from the words that the actors were speaking and from the impact of the story. That is my only critique of Linklater's direction, which was nearly flawless.

    Overall, this was an impressive and very intense drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat due to its strong reality and human element. It took me a while for me to realize this, and will probably take some time for it to sink into your mind, but that is the nature of this film. It is created to leave this lasting impression on your mind and to haunt your mind during your next visit with friends. I think Linklater did an excellent job with the material that he was handed, proving that his work could be compared to early Cameron Crowe material. Leonard and Thurman explode onto the scene, while Hawke leaves a bit more to be desired. I do believe that Linklater should have considered another actor for his role. Either way, this was a great film that took away the classic Hollywood backdrop and gave us nothing but 100% pure acting.

    Grade: **** out of *****
    helpful•55
    20
    • film-critic
    • Jan 16, 2005

    Details

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    • Release date
      • July 12, 2002 (Denmark)
      • United States
      • English
    • Also known as
      • New York City, New York, USA
    • Production companies
      • Detour Filmproduction
      • IFC Productions
      • InDigEnt (Independent Digital Entertainment)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 26 minutes
      • Color
      • Dolby SR

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