75
Metascore
7 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90The New York TimesGlenn KennyThe New York TimesGlenn KennyThe movie intersperses observations and speculations on Welles’s life and work with long looks at his graphic pieces. These are fascinating.
- 88Slant MagazineChuck BowenSlant MagazineChuck BowenThe Eyes of Orson Welles honors the central paradox of Welles: that he was a joyful poet of alienation who was, like most of us, both victim and victimizer.
- 80Rolling StoneDavid FearRolling StoneDavid FearIf you can say nothing else about this free-form valentine, it’s genuinely eye-opening.
- 80Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleLos Angeles TimesRobert AbeleConsidering the amount of such material Welles left behind — sketches, drawings and paintings from his formative childhood travels through decades in movies — it makes for a tantalizing reappraisal sure to appeal to even the most knowledgeable Welles enthusiast.
- 63RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzRogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzThe Eyes of Orson Welles doesn't rank with the best Welles scholarship, mainly because it's too overreaching and disorganized, and commits itself to central creative decisions that increasingly come to seem misguided.
- 63Boston GlobeTy BurrBoston GlobeTy BurrEarly in the documentary The Eyes of Orson Welles, a box is taken out of long years of archival storage at the University of Michigan and opened to reveal an entire alternate career: pages upon pages of Welles’s graphic artwork. For this, Mark Cousins’s documentary is necessary viewing. For the glutinous narrative voice-over of Cousins himself, it’s decidedly less so.
- 58The PlaylistAndrew BundyThe PlaylistAndrew BundyCousins’ new doc will undoubtedly be essential viewing for a sea of cinephiles, but it might not easily capture the attention of audiences less familiar with Welles’ legacy.