Ebert is overrated (by the general public) and often underrated or ignored by the serious film buff. This review is a little gem, unpretentious and postiive, offering something both to the Green fan and the newcomer.
[David Gordon Green] has achieved what few directors ever do: After watching one of his films for a scene or two, you know who directed it. His style has been categorized as "Southern Gothic," but that's too narrow. I sense a poetic merging of realism and surrealism; every detail is founded on fact and accurate observation, but the effect appeals to our instinct for the mythological. This fusion is apparent when his characters say something that (a) sounds exactly as if it's the sort of thing they would say, but (b) is like nothing anyone has ever said before. I'm thinking of lines like, "He thinks about infinity. The doctor says his brain's not ready for it." Or "Can I carve my name in your face?"
I don't know if such dialogue illustrates such a fusion, but it's a comment that might relate Undertow with George Washington and All the Real Girls and neatly pulls together some of Ebert's best observations.