Chicken People

Chicken People is a 2016 documentary film about people who breed and raise chickens for exhibition. It is focused primarily on three subjects who compete in the Ohio National Poultry Show in Columbus, Ohio.

Chicken People
Directed byNicole Lucas Haimes
Produced by
Written byNicole Lucas Haimes
Music byMichael Hearst
CinematographyMartina Radwan
Edited byKevin Klauber, A.C.E.
Sara Booth
Production
company
Distributed byCMT
Samuel Goldwyn Films
Release date
  • 13 March 2016 (2016-03-13) (SXSW)
  • 23 September 2016 (2016-09-23)
Running time
83 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

A number of reviewers compared it to the mockumentary Best in Show.[1][2][3][4]

Synopsis

After an overview of people who have a passion for raising poultry, the film focuses on three main characters — Brian Caraker, a musical theater performer from Branson, Missouri; Brian Knox, an engineer of high performance race engines from New Hampshire; and Shari McCollough, a homemaker from Crawfordsville, Indiana.

Release

Critical response

Chicken People has received positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 100% based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 7.23/10.[5] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 81 out of 100 based on 4 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[6]

Writing for The New York Times, Helen T. Verongos stated that "these chicken people, with deep connections to their birds, make for a fun and at times astonishing film."[7] In a review for the Los Angeles Times, Katie Walsh wrote that "the film proves to be more than just a glimpse into a world that's easy to titter at. Haimes delves into the larger issues and psychological motivations that drive the kind of obsession that allows one to breed award-winning poultry."[3] Joe Leydon, in a review for Variety, called it an "illuminating and amusingly entertaining look at the thriving subculture of competitive poultry breeders", and wrote that the film "generates a fair amount of suspense, [... but] it also abounds in moments of ineffably charming comic relief".[2]

A review for The Village Voice criticized the filmmaker for not probing deep enough with some of the subjects and their "larger failure [...] in never finding much of a compelling reason for us to care about this subculture beyond surface geek-show intrigue."[4]

References
  1. "Chicken People News". CMT.com. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
  2. Leydon, Joe (1 July 2016). "Film Review: 'Chicken People'". Variety. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
  3. Walsh, Katie (22 September 2016). "Review: Warm-hearted documentary 'Chicken People' looks at poultry breeders". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  4. Fujishima, Kenji (23 September 2016). "Meet the Folks Who Raise Those Fancy-Ass Show Chickens in 'Chicken People'". The Village Voice. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  5. "Chicken People (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  6. "Chicken People reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  7. Verongos, Helen T. (22 September 2016). "Review: 'Chicken People,' Pampering Royalty That Clucks". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
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