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Chained for Life
Directed by
Aaron Schimberg
Not Rated
2018
1h 31m
Drama
6.5
100%
58%
Add to Watchlist
A beautiful actress struggles to connect with her disfigured co-star on the set of a European auteur's English-language debut.
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Where to Watch Chained for Life
Hoopla
Free
Kanopy
Free
Kino Film Collection
Subscription
+4 more
Cast of Chained for Life
Jess Weixler
Mabel
Adam Pearson
Rosenthal
Charlie Korsmo
Herr Director
Sari Lennick
Sarah
Stephen Plunkett
Max
Joaquina Kalukango
Michelle
Sammy Mena
Brutto
Frank Mosley
Frank
Eleanore Pienta
Molly
Joanna Arnow
The Hospital Liaison
Cosmo Bjorkenheim
The Grip
Will Blomker
The Waiter
Jon Dieringer
Handsome Young Doctor
Rayvin Disla
The Butler
Daniel Gilchrist
Demby
Avi Glickstein
Doctor Glickstein
Miranda Gruss
Miriam
Rebecca Gruss
Eva
Colin Kane Healey
The Boom Operator
William Huntley
Aristotle
Lucy Kaminsky
A Nurse
John Klacsmann
The Gaffer
Sarah Grace Lee
The Unknown Woman
Eric Magnus
The P.A.
Tiffany Manning
Phrosa
Vanessa McDonnell
The Script-Girl / Producer
Alison Midstokke
Stella
Jennifer Miller
Clementine
Gina Murdock
Jack-Jacqueline
Kossim Osseni
The Driver (voice)
Bryant Pappas
The Policeman
Sayra Player
Beckett
Keith Poulson
An Asshole
David Joseph Regelmann
Launcelot
Kati Skelton
A Medical Student
Diana Tenney
Nora
Anu Valia
Another Nurse
Lauren Brown
Television Reporter
Danielle Burgos
Background
Kate Christiansen
Background
Steve Cossman
Background
Prema Cruz
Background
Tamera Davis
Background
Bradley Eros
Background
Joshua Gerst
Background
Leah Giblin
Background
Caroline Golum
Background
John Grunewald
Background
Amanda Hammett
Background
Jeremy Hanks
Background
Jacob Hopkins
Background
Andrew Lampert
Eyewitness
Bob Langdon
Background
Tyler Macri
Background
Louisa Mascuch
Background
Charles Mattern
Background
Tavish Miller
Background
Hannah Myers
Background
Evangeline Nicholson
Background
Annelise Ogaard
Background
Chris Osborn
Background
Oscar Pavlo
Background
Kristen Radford
Background
Adamska Elizaveta Rakhilkina
Background
Leah Shore
Background
Merrill Sterritt
Background
Troy Swain
Background
Leslie Synn
Background
C. Breanne Thomas
Background
Natoya Layelle Thomas
Background
Orlando Twyford
Background
Sia Balabanova
The Production Designer (uncredited)
Daniel Patrick Carbone
Sprinting Producer (uncredited) / Producer
Annalise Lockhart
The Cinematographer (uncredited)
Matthew Petock
The Set Photographer (uncredited) / Producer
Jane Schoenbrun
Frantic Producer (uncredited) / Producer
Zachary Shedd
Hustling Producer (uncredited) / Producer
Aaron Schimberg
Director / Writer
Chained for Life Ratings & Reviews
Los Angeles Times
Robert Abele
Anchored by Weixler's and Pearson's natural charm, "Chained for Life" stands up as both a quiet ode to the experimental, dreamlike spirit of moviemaking and a seriocomic corrective to sentimentalized sideshow portrayals.
High on Films
Shikhar Verma
Referencing numerous movies and the entire subculture, Schimberg pays a peculiarly satisfying homage to the everyday people and the little stories inside their heads.
HeraldNet (Everett, WA)
Robert Horton
Pearson radiates personality and humor, and his presence lifts the movie into interesting territory.
Austin Chronicle
Richard Whittaker
If the point of Tod Browning's Freaks was that it's what's inside that makes someone a monster, Chained for Life finds that everyone is awkward, everyone sees their own flaws, and everybody is just somebody.
Vanity Fair
K. Austin Collins
Chained for Life's genius is in its playfulness, and in [director Aarpm] Schimberg's vision, lucid but disorienting, insistent that there be no boundary between the movie we're watching and the movie - movies? - his characters are making.
Elements of Madness
Douglas Davidson
One thing for certain is that [director Aaron] Schimberg's approach to filmmaking is a breath of fresh air, opting to make bold statements via biting satire carefully constructed in a manner to never make the subject matter the butt of the joke.
Paste Magazine
Kyle Turner
What's so curious about Chained for Life, and its effortlessness in gliding from the real to the surreal, is how easy it is for its cast of differently-abled actors to seize the camera and its gaze.
Cinemalogue
Todd Jorgenson
... blurs fantasy and reality to an almost disorienting degree. But it also finds a dark sense of humor while turning cynicism into compassion.
Counterpunch.org
Louis Proyect
Brilliant deconstruction of Todd Browning's "Freaks".
Screen Slate
Patrick Dahl
Aaron Schimberg's howlingly funny and deeply affecting second feature considers the ethical tightrope of transforming flesh-and-blood human beings into fodder for cinema.
RogerEbert.com
Sheila O'Malley
A meaningful, moving, and often quite funny interrogation of beauty in the movies.
New York Times
Ben Kenigsberg
Schimberg's film is odd, darkly funny and - when it means to be - a little frightening.
TheWrap
Michael Nordine
Deeply weird without being difficult to follow, Chained also bears traces of David Lynch's The Elephant Man in its DNA - influences that guide Schimberg in a direction that's difficult to predict but fun to follow.
Rob's Movie Vault
Rob Gonsalves
The performances in general are incisive, with the insecure Weixler playing deftly off the witty Pearson, who carries himself in a way that makes the case for disabled actors playing disabled characters all by itself.
Variety
Dennis Harvey
At times Schimberg's gambits feel too coy, their aim too dry despite the sensational hooks. But more often than not, the immediate impact is engagingly droll, and there's no questioning the overall adventurousness, confidence and originality.
AV Club
Katie Rife
The script's showbiz satire shows occasional flashes of savage brilliance, and the meta aspects are thoughtfully composed, if occasionally self-indulgent.
The Hollywood Reporter
Keith Uhlich
Chained for Life expands on the idea of difference as a humanizing catalyst, and cinema is its playground.
The New Yorker
Richard Brody
Schimberg creates a melodrama that reflects on the terms of melodrama while also pointing toward a grass-roots cinematic revolution-movies made by people about their own experiences.
Slant Magazine
Henry Stewart
Aaron Schimberg mostly avoids advocacy. Chained for Life isn't much of an argument, just a provocative discussion.
Village Voice
Calum Marsh
Chained for Life is a fine film about how disability is misappropriated.
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