70
Metascore
10 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Film ThreatPhil HallFilm ThreatPhil HallOne of the greatest art documentaries ever made. Through an imaginative mixture of rare footage, audio recordings and contemporary interviews with the living legends of modern art, Rosen has created a cinematic portrait which is, in itself, a work of art.
- 90VarietyRonnie ScheibVarietyRonnie ScheibLively, intelligent collage, both richly complex and immediately accessible.
- 88Chicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonChicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonShot with a Peter Greenaway-like austere impudence and edited brilliantly (by Jed Parker), this is an entertaining movie, and a moving one--even if, like me, you're not especially fond of these paintings or that scene.
- 83The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe A.V. ClubNoel MurrayComes closer than most to seeing the whole picture.
- 75New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoPaints an entertaining picture of the cherubic gentleman, who as the first curator of contemporary art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art brought new excitement to the stodgy institution.
- 70Chicago ReaderFred CamperChicago ReaderFred CamperFun, lively, and a tad superficial.
- 63New York Daily NewsJack MathewsNew York Daily NewsJack MathewsThe film's appeal is for the eyes. Because Henry got to call it art, it's on display once again.
- 63TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghTV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghThe film's flippant style ultimately undermines its material - Rosen's decision not to immediately identify interviewees is especially irritating - and, ironically, makes the American art scene of the '60s appear as shallow and trendy as its detractors always claimed it was.
- 60Village VoiceVillage VoiceA TV-style compilation of big-name talking heads and occasionally fascinating footage, the film convokes an impressive cast of interviewees—David Hockney, Frank Stella, and Ellsworth Kelly among them--yet seems too dazzled by their luminance to squeeze a substantial analysis of Geldzahler from their pithy testimonials.
- 40The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisThis glib, largely uninformative and poorly organized précis of the post-World War II art scene, with its emphasis on New York in the 1960's and the curator Henry Geldzahler, succeeds neither as history nor as art history.