Synopsis
Combining archival footage with rotoscopic animation, Tower reveals the action-packed untold stories of the witnesses, heroes and survivors of America’s first mass school shooting, when the worst in one man brought out the best in so many others.
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Cast
- Violett BeaneClaire Wilson James
- Chris DoubekAllen Crum
- Blair JacksonHouston McCoy
- Louie ArnetteRamiro "Ray" Martinez
- Josephine McAdamRita Starpattern
- Aldo OrdoñezAleck Hernandez Jr.
- Seamus Bolivar-OchoaJohn "Artly" Fox
- Monty MuirNeal Spelce
- Cole Bee WilsonTom Eckman
- Vicky IllkBrenda Bell
Recommendations
- 100
TheWrap
Tower is art, first and foremost, a piece about adrenaline, bravery, grief and memory that stands as one of the year’s crowning achievements in emotional, illuminative storytelling. - 100
The New Yorker
The animation, by Craig Staggs, has a notable imaginative specificity, and the meticulously complex interweaving of styles turns the film into a horrifying true-crime thriller that’s enriched by a rare depth of inner experience. - 100
The New York Times
Using a limited frame, Mr. Maitland does his own commemorating, inherently raising questions about terror, the nature of heroism and what it means to really survive. He also does something even more necessary: He turns names on a plaque into people. - 91
The A.V. Club
Maitland sticks close to the ground, providing a harrowing moment-to-moment account that foregrounds multiple acts of genuine heroism. The result comes as close to being a feel-good movie about senseless violence as anyone is likely to get. - 90
The Hollywood Reporter
As the melee comes to feel like it may never end, the film executes a masterful narrative shift that will produce instant lumps in many viewers' throats. - 90
Variety
A gripping dramatic reconstruction, a tribute to the heroes and the fallen, and inevitably an expression of nostalgia for the days when a mass shooting still had the power to shock, Keith Maitland’s film weaves rotoscopic animation, archival footage and present-day interviews into a uniquely cinematic memorial. - 83
Consequence
This unique blend of docudrama, action movie, and cartoon immerses the viewer in a way that wouldn’t be possible in a more traditional film. - 83
The Film Stage
Tower offers a chilling, first-hand account of those tremendously haunting days that live in infamy within our collective conscious: days that begin like any other until the unimaginable occurs.
