195 minutes / Color
Release: 2011
Copyright: 1975
ICE is included on the same DVD as Milestones
MILESTONES is a lilting, free-associative masterpiece that follows dozens of characters — including hippies, farmers, immigrants, Native Americans, and political activists — as they try to reconcile their ideals with the realities of American life. In intimate discussions of subjects from communal living to parenting, pregnancy to family, Vietnam to Cuba, city life to country life, and the workplace to the bedroom, the film's diverse protagonists negotiate jealousies, relationships, and the logistical challenges of their rapidly changing world.
Shot in vivid color 16mm, using innovative, layered sound design and editing techniques as well as slides and archival footage, Milestones tracks its subjects through scripted and unscripted moments. It follows them as they share their emotions and dreams, their idealism and disillusionment, their triumphs and defeats of the past, as well as the possibilities for the future.
"As sad and compassionate a movie as I have ever seen... An attempt to keep alive one of the noble, impossible promises of its time." —A.O.Scott, The New York Times
"[MILESTONES] traverses the entire nation and marks the passing of an era… Kramer's most unforgettable expedition." —Melissa Anderson, Artforum
"A speculative fiction that unfolds in an enhanced, Orwellian version of New York City… Surprisingly personal and beautifully somber… Breathtaking." —John Patterson, L.A/ Weekly
"A monument of committed American cinema." —Kieron Corless, Sight & Sound
"MILESTONES is an epic snapshot of our nation at a specific point in time in a brilliant and orginal mash-up of documentary and fiction." —The Flip Side
"Above all else it is brave. The intensity of the commitment evinced by the film's characters, the unapologetically mixed-up quality of these commitments, and the sheer force of the emotions that come pouring off the screen make it unlike anything else I know of in that too-lauded period of American cinema." —Cinema Scope
Select Accolades
An innovative independent thriller, shot in New York City, which centers on a revolutionary group plotting to attack a fascistic political regime.
Robert Kramer | 2011 | 128 minutes | Color | English
New restoration! A journey along Route 1, from Maine to Miami, yields a rich tapestry of American life. Part 1.
Robert Kramer | 1990 | 125 minutes | Color | English | Closed Captioned
