73
Metascore
18 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83The PlaylistJessica KiangThe PlaylistJessica KiangWhile Vitali is frank about the nature of his demanding and subservient relationship to the man, his warmhearted, dazzled, Everest-high respect for Kubrick’s talent remains undimmed even now. It is truly inspiring and touching just how little bitterness Vitali has in him, and it stems from his having no regrets over a life dedicated to something he believes in with utterly selfless purity.
- What shines through most here is the pure sense of pride felt by Vitali, in the trust Kubrick placed in him, and in his part in creating some of the last century’s most monumental pieces of cinema.
- 80VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanFilmworker is a brisk, compelling movie that’s pure candy for Kubrick buffs, yet there are oddities about it.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberThe Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberThe film honors the hard-working, often unacknowledged craftsmen in the film industry and stirs provocative questions about the fine line between legitimate devotion to an artist and dangerous hero worship.
- 75The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyThe A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyMatthew Modine — who wrote about Vitali repeatedly in his published diaries of the hellish production of "Full Metal Jacket" and is also interviewed in Filmworker — echoes what seems to be a common sentiment about Vitali: that the guy is a friendly mystery, either a glutton for punishment or a saint.
- 70The New York TimesGlenn KennyThe New York TimesGlenn KennyThe material about Kubrick’s process is finally more interesting than the discussions about his temperament.
- 70Village VoiceBilge EbiriVillage VoiceBilge EbiriPerhaps if Kubrick himself wasn’t obsessed, if his films weren’t so thoroughly overwhelming in real life, then they wouldn’t have exploded in our minds the way they did. Filmworker is both a cautionary tale and a tribute to this kind of compulsion.
- 67IndieWireMichael NordineIndieWireMichael Nordine[A] suitably workmanlike documentary.
- 63Slant MagazineChuck BowenSlant MagazineChuck BowenTony Zierra interviews Leon Vitali at length, and he’s a commanding camera object with an obvious wellspring of longing and pain.
- 60Screen DailyTim GriersonScreen DailyTim GriersonAn inability to crack the movie’s central mystery — why abandon your dreams to help facilitate someone else’s? — leaves the project feeling a bit like a missed opportunity.