81
Metascore
28 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanThe Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has achieved a prominence that makes him, in effect, the Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn of the Twitter age. He's also the least stuffy of dissidents, and Alison Klayman's stirring, important documentary catches his complex humanity.
- 90The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisThe fluidity and convenience of digital moviemaking tools explain some of its freshness, as does Ms. Klayman's history as a budding documentarian. It's clear from watching both the feature and its earlier iterations that, while she was learning about Mr. Ai, she was also learning how to tell a visual story. It's easy to think that hanging around Mr. Ai, a brilliant Conceptual artist and an equally great mass-media interpolater, played a part in her education.
- 83The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsThe A.V. ClubKeith PhippsKlayman captures the earlier parts of that story so compellingly that the finale's "to be continued" quality ends up playing into the film's unspoken goal: raising awareness of one man's ongoing attempts to better the world through art.
- 80The GuardianAndrew PulverThe GuardianAndrew PulverLet's hope Klayman gets to make a sequel.
- 80Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternWall Street JournalJoe MorgensternHis is a special kind of courage, and it impels him to act with special agility in a brave new world of his own making, where little tweets can challenge big lies and a blog post can echo like thunder.
- 75Slant MagazineAndrew SchenkerSlant MagazineAndrew SchenkerThe director's clear-minded approach allows her subject's more challenging aesthetic-political mix to shine through, even if it's at the inevitable expense of her own filmmaking proclivities.
- 60Time OutKeith UhlichTime OutKeith UhlichAi is a great subject for a documentary, and his charismatic certitude helps to offset Klayman's unfortunate inexperience behind the camera.
- 60New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNew York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanAlison Klayman's chronicle of Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei is so straightforward that one can't help wishing the subject would make his own, more complex cinematic self-portrait. But for now, Klayman has provided a valuable introduction to a man everyone should know.