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Remake

Play trailer 2:01 Poster for Remake Jul 2026 1h 54m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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100% Tomatometer 30 Reviews Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
Filmmaker Ross McElwee has spent forty years recording himself and his family, creating documentaries that chronicle the shifting contours of American society through the lens of personal history. His son Adrian grew up inside those films, and eventually began experimenting with the camera himself. When a Hollywood producer acquires the rights to adapt McElwee's 1986 breakthrough SHERMAN'S MARCH into a work of fiction, twenty-year-old Adrian sees a chance for his father to finally reach a wider audience. As the adaptation stalls, Adrian gets swept into a deepening drug addiction and dies from a fentanyl overdose, leaving behind hours of personal video footage. Retracing Adrian's final years, McElwee reckons with what his camera captured and what remained hauntingly out of frame. As he reflects on a lifetime behind the camera, Ross's own effort to remix and remake the movie that Adrian never got to finish takes on new significance. An ever-expanding hall of mirrors built from decades of home movies, REMAKE is both McElwee's attempt to hold onto his son, and to let him go.

Critics Reviews

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Tim Grierson Los Angeles Times 4h
A eulogy that also serves as an apology, a reckoning and a confession, “Remake” is filled with moments that are crushing because of how understated they are. Go to Full Review Vikram Murthi IndieWire 21h
A-
Remake occasionally suffers from occasionally clumsy cross-cutting and some needless repetition in sound and image, but those minor blemishes fade away in the face of its remarkably affecting heights. Go to Full Review Zachary Barnes Wall Street Journal 2d
It’s the shattering confusion of grief—for his son, and for his own life as he expected to lead it -- yet he has made of the resulting jumble a consoling, searching work of art. Go to Full Review Ray Pride Newcity 1d
10/10
Beautiful and shattering... essential viewing, Go to Full Review Stephen Silver The SS Ben Hecht 1d
Ross McElwee’s very wrenching latest film looks back on the life and death of his son and re-examines his previous body of work. Go to Full Review Laura Clifford Reeling Reviews 2d
A-
McElwee has crafted an intricate exploration of memory, much of his own collected on film and digital, in a work brimming with questions, his grief and love for his son so palpable we feel his reluctance to let go... Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Robert S @rodash 23h For those who know McElwee's films, it's a reunion, albeit often painful, with old friends. Some of the editing is brilliant, but the film ends up spinning its wheels and diminishing its power. Nevertheless, it's a must see for McElwee fans. See more Ian B @RT59743223 5d Nothing else quite like it. A category of its own without question. Beautiful, haunting, and so stimulating at times it was hard to process as a true account, given it follows someone’s entire life, from start to finish. A film likely to inspire many filmmakers, and creatives, to come. See more Read all reviews
Remake

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Cast & Crew

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Ross McElwee

Director

Joe Bini

Director

Adrian McElwee

Self

Charleen Swansea

Self

Mark Meatto

Producer

Ross McElwee

Executive Producer
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Remake

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Remake

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Movie Info

Synopsis Filmmaker Ross McElwee has spent forty years recording himself and his family, creating documentaries that chronicle the shifting contours of American society through the lens of personal history. His son Adrian grew up inside those films, and eventually began experimenting with the camera himself. When a Hollywood producer acquires the rights to adapt McElwee's 1986 breakthrough SHERMAN'S MARCH into a work of fiction, twenty-year-old Adrian sees a chance for his father to finally reach a wider audience. As the adaptation stalls, Adrian gets swept into a deepening drug addiction and dies from a fentanyl overdose, leaving behind hours of personal video footage. Retracing Adrian's final years, McElwee reckons with what his camera captured and what remained hauntingly out of frame. As he reflects on a lifetime behind the camera, Ross's own effort to remix and remake the movie that Adrian never got to finish takes on new significance. An ever-expanding hall of mirrors built from decades of home movies, REMAKE is both McElwee's attempt to hold onto his son, and to let him go.
Director
Ross McElwee, Joe Bini
Producer
Mark Meatto, Ross McElwee
Screenwriter
Ross McElwee
Distributor
Music Box Films
Production Co
Giant Squid, Impact Partners
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 10, 2026, Limited
Runtime
1h 54m