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Route One/USA
Pre-order
Route One/USA
Route One/USA
Route One/USA
Route One/USA
Route One/USA
Route One/USA
Route One/USA
Route One/USA
Route One/USA
Route One/USA

Icarus Films

Route One/USA

$28.99
$28.99
$41.98
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{ "42893121191978":1 }
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This Partner Label release is distributed through Vinegar Syndrome's sister company OCN Distribution. Vinegar Syndrome had no part in, nor are responsible for, the restoration, extras, quality control or any content(s) of this release. We hope you enjoy our growing roster of Partner Labels and the expertise and curation brought to each release by their dedicated staff!

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This special limited edition slipcover (designed by Steak Mtn) is limited to 500 units and is only available on our website and at select indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them.

Since 1978, Icarus Films has been a leading distributor in North America of independent documentary, narrative, and experimental films from around the world and now represents a collection of over 1,000 titles. We value meeting the diverse needs of film lovers, educators, activists, and service providers, as well as challenging audiences, and programmers, with original creative films. Icarus Films is proud to be active in traditional and new media, and to work with new talent as well as old masters.

In 1988, after years living abroad, renegade filmmaker Robert Kramer returns. “Back,” he emphasizes. Not “home.” To try to understand the country as it is, he decides to travel the entire length of Route 1, from the Canadian border to Key West, filming all the way. His companion on the trip is Doc—ostensibly Kramer’s friend, a brooding physician back after a harrowing decade working in Africa. But in fact, he’s a fictional character played by actor Paul McIsaac, a compassionate man who readily engages those he meets, from business owners, to factory workers and to army recruits.

For a road movie, ROUTE ONE/USA features few shots of the open road itself. Instead, we are treated to a series of stops along the way—an Indian reserve in Maine, Walden Pond, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC, a Georgia diner, Thanksgiving dinner at a homeless shelter, and evangelical churches that preach the “truth” about the anti-apartheid movement and the dangers of Disney. There are plenty of characters along the way too, and appearances by televangelist Pat Robertson and Jesse Jackson, as they campaign for president.

It’s not just the people who make the film though. Kramer has an extraordinary eye for people, patterns, and industrial processes (you’ll never look at Monopoly or tinned sardines the same way again), and his visuals shine through in this beautifully restored edition.

Though shot decades ago, ROUTE ONE/USA feels remarkably contemporary in its portrayal of many of the racial, social, and economic challenges America continues to face.

directed by: Robert Kramer
starring: Paul McIsaac
1989 / 254 min (combined) / 1.66:1 / English DTS-HD MA 2.0

Additional info:

  • Region A Blu-ray
  • Looking for Robert - a documentary by Richard Copans about Robert Kramer
  • Booklet with new writing by Erika Balsom
  • English SDH subtitles