79
Metascore
15 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerThe New York TimesNeil GenzlingerAn engrossing, unsettling documentary.
- 80The GuardianHenry BarnesThe GuardianHenry BarnesA crash reel – a greatest hits of a boarder's most dramatic falls – is meant to entertain. But Walker takes the cheap thrills of the format and flips it painfully on its head.
- 80VarietyRob NelsonVarietyRob NelsonBy turns pulse-quickening and contemplative, The Crash Reel is a thoroughly winning docu portrait of former pro snowboarder Kevin Pearce.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweThe Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweWith a keen sense of the thrills of snowboarding, a cultivated understanding of the demands of the pro circuit and genuine compassion for the casualties of the sport, Walker’s particular talent in this film is in making the general more specific.
- 80Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleLos Angeles TimesRobert AbeleThe Crash Reel asks pointed questions about hazard, reward and consequence, forcing us to look anew at the rush attached to so many high-stakes sports.
- 80New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyNew York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyWhat complicates and deepens Crash Reel, though, is that Walker doesn’t simply wag her finger like Mom telling you not to run with scissors.
- 80Time Out LondonTrevor JohnstonTime Out LondonTrevor JohnstonDon’t be put off by the jock-ish ‘extreme sports’ subject matter, this is an insightful, deeply affecting journey of emotional discovery beyond the thrill of speed and the roar of the crowd.
- 80The DissolveAndrew LapinThe DissolveAndrew LapinWalker edits with an eye for poeticism, and at times her choices are unbearably painful.
- 75Slant MagazineChuck BowenSlant MagazineChuck BowenIt compellingly captures a family wrestling mightily with the riddles and contradictions of a culture that promotes achievement at all costs with little thought as to what that actually means.
- 70Village VoiceInkoo KangVillage VoiceInkoo KangWalker never has Pearce explain why he wants to return the lifts, and he never has to. The heights speak for themselves.