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Swan Song

Swan Song

Comedy · Drama · 2021

An aging hairdresser escapes his nursing home to embark on an odyssey across his small town to style a dead woman's hair for her funeral, rediscovering his sparkle along the way.

Movie details

Swan Song

2021 Comedy · Drama 1h 45m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.9 / 10

Community rating

An aging hairdresser escapes his nursing home to embark on an odyssey across his small town to style a dead woman's hair for her funeral, rediscovering his sparkle along the way.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Swan Song?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Educating Rita

Educating Rita

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The Upside

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Death at a Funeral

Death at a Funeral

Comedy · 2007

A myriad of outrageous calamities befalls an eccentric English clan with more than a few skeletons in its closets when the family's patriarch dies an unexpected death.

The Spitfire Grill

The Spitfire Grill

Comedy · 1996

Percy, upon being released from prison, goes to the small town of Gillead, to find a place where she can start over again. She is taken in by Hannah, to help out at her place, the Spitfire Grill. Percy brings change to the small town, stirring resentment and fear in some, and growth in others.

A Man Called Otto

A Man Called Otto

Comedy · 2022

When a lively young family moves in next door, grumpy widower Otto Anderson meets his match in a quick-witted, pregnant woman named Marisol, leading to an unlikely friendship that turns his world upside down.

Howl

Howl

Drama · 2010

It's San Francisco in 1957, and an American masterpiece is put on trial. Howl, the film, recounts this dark moment using three interwoven threads: the tumultuous life events that led a young Allen Ginsberg to find his true voice as an artist, society's reaction (the obscenity trial), and mind-expanding animation that echoes the startling originality of the poem itself. All three coalesce in a genre-bending hybrid that brilliantly captures a pivotal moment-the birth of a counterculture.

Things We Lost in the Fire

Things We Lost in the Fire

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A recent widow invites her husband's troubled best friend to live with her and her two children. As he gradually turns his life around, he helps the family cope and confront their loss.

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Ideal Home

Comedy · 2018

A couple is going through marital troubles made worse when a previously unknown grandson shows up.

Barbershop: The Next Cut

Barbershop: The Next Cut

Comedy · 2016

To survive harsh economic times, Calvin and Angie have merged the barbershop and beauty salon into one business. The days of male bonding are gone as Eddie and the crew must now contend with sassy female co-workers and spirited clientele. As the battle of the sexes rages on, a different kind of conflict has taken over Chicago. Crime and gangs are on the rise, leaving Calvin worried about the fate of his son. Together, the friends come up with a bold plan to take back their beloved neighborhood.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Todd Stephens

Written by

Todd Stephens

Udo Kier

Udo Kier

Pat Pitsenbarger

Jennifer Coolidge

Jennifer Coolidge

Dee Dee Dale

Linda Evans

Linda Evans

Rita Parker Sloan

Michael Urie

Michael Urie

Dustin

R

Roshon Thomas

Shaundell

Ira Hawkins

Ira Hawkins

Eunice

Annie Kitral

Annie Kitral

Miss Gertie

Court is in session

Put Swan Song on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.