Chicken People
{{Infobox film
| name = Chicken People
| image = Chicken People poster.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| director = Nicole Lucas Haimes
| producer = {{Plainlist|
- Julie Goldman
- Caroline Kaplan
- Chris Clements
- Terry Leonard
}}
| writer = Nicole Lucas Haimes
| starring =
| narrator =
| music = Michael Hearst
| cinematography = Martina Radwan
| editing = Kevin Klauber, A.C.E.
Sara Booth
| studio = {{Plainlist|
- Motto Pictures
- Strongman
- Haimes Film
}}
| distributor = CMT
Samuel Goldwyn Films
| released = {{Film date|2016|3|13|SXSW|2016|9|23|df=y}}
| runtime = 83 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget =
| gross =
}}
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.
A number of reviewers compared it to the mockumentary Best in Show.{{cite web|title=Chicken People News|url=http://www.cmt.com/movies/chicken-people/news.jhtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731200812/http://www.cmt.com/movies/chicken-people/news.jhtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 31, 2016|website=CMT.com|accessdate=6 January 2017}}
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.{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chicken_people/|title=Chicken People (2016)|website=Rotten Tomatoes|accessdate=1 July 2019}} On Metacritic, the film has a score of 81 out of 100 based on 4 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".{{cite web |url=http://www.metacritic.com/movie/chicken-people|title=Chicken People reviews|website=Metacritic|accessdate=5 January 2016}}
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."{{cite news|last1=Verongos|first1=Helen T.|authorlink1=Helen T. Verongos|title=Review: 'Chicken People,' Pampering Royalty That Clucks|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/23/movies/chicken-people-review.html|accessdate=27 December 2016|work=The New York Times|date=22 September 2016}} 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."{{cite news|last1=Walsh|first1=Katie|authorlink1=Katie Walsh (journalist)|title=Review: Warm-hearted documentary 'Chicken People' looks at poultry breeders|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-capsule-chicken-people-review-20160920-snap-story.html|accessdate=27 December 2016|work=Los Angeles Times|date=22 September 2016}} 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".{{cite news|last1=Leydon|first1=Joe|authorlink1=Joe Leydon|title=Film Review: 'Chicken People'|url=https://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/chicken-people-review-1201805354/|accessdate=6 January 2017|work=Variety|date=1 July 2016}}
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."{{cite news|last1=Fujishima|first1=Kenji|authorlink1=Kenji Fujishima|title=Meet the Folks Who Raise Those Fancy-Ass Show Chickens in 'Chicken People'|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/film/meet-the-folks-who-raise-those-fancy-ass-show-chickens-in-chicken-people-9144491|accessdate=7 January 2017|work=The Village Voice|date=23 September 2016}}
References
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20160325091438/http://www.cmt.com/movies/chicken-people/ Chicken People] at the distributor's website
- {{IMDb title|4819510}}
- {{YouTube|Xulj7kavDYw|Chicken People official trailer}}
- [http://www.documentary.org/film/chicken-people Chicken People] at the International Documentary Association
Category:2016 documentary films
Category:American documentary films
Category:Documentary films about agriculture in the United States
Category:Documentary films about competitions
Category:Documentary films about Ohio