National Anthem // Variance Films

National Anthem is a Luscious, Breathtaking Take on Americana

-Paste Magazine

National Anthem is at its openhearted, poetically inclined best when observing an alternate vision of the American West that’s no less possible for being radical.

- Washington Post

Charlie Plummer Has a Sexual Awakening in a Horny Queer Western That’s a Feast for the Senses

-IndieWire

Dylan lives an isolated life of routine in rural New Mexico, working odd construction jobs to help support his little brother and alcoholic mother. He accepts a gig working at the House of Splendor, a homestead built by a community of queer rodeo performers and ranchers, and soon the indefinable magic of an untamed America unfolds before him. Finding space to explore and discover himself, he becomes entwined in the life of Sky, a talented barrel racer and free spirit. While working together in the breathtaking expanse of the Southwest, they contend with the undeniable forces of nature, family, and love.

What She Said

The pastoral, lyrical framework, sensitive cinematography and direction are gentle, but the film has impact. What seems initially a slight film really lands with power.

Austin Chronicle

It’s not a grand landscape but a small portrait of wistfulness and wanting in the West, fluttering and touching.

The Daily Beast

It would be easy enough to argue that National Anthem isn’t a Western at all. But for the genre to move into the 21st century without riding purely on nostalgia, it needs movies like National Anthem that don’t feel bound by tradition.

San Francisco Chronicle

“National Anthem” seems impossibly idyllic yet palpably authentic at the same time

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