Coup 53
| Release Date (Streaming): August 19, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
80
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The PlaylistChristian GallichioSep 8, 2020
Coup 53 is a live-wire thriller that is one of the best documentaries of the year. Read full review
100
Washington PostAnn HornadayAug 19, 2020
As enlightening as Coup 53 is as a secret history, it’s even more satisfying as an aesthetic exercise, treating viewers to one of cleverest workarounds in cinematic problem-solving in recent memory. It’s a nonfiction film that functions precisely as all documentaries should: as a piece of doggedly investigative, personally transparent reporting, and as simply great storytelling, full stop. Read full review
80
EmpireIan FreerAug 24, 2020
Part political drama, part history lesson, part gripping spy thriller, Coup 53 gives what has been relegated to a small footnote in Iran’s story the big, expansive, dramatic treatment it deserves. Read full review
80
Time OutDave CalhounAug 24, 2020
It wins you over with its scrappy underdog antics and then, later, bowls you over with its heavyweight insights. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternAug 20, 2020
Whether or not Darbyshire’s admission is the bombshell Mr. Amirani says it is, his account is a chilling commentary on a dark chapter in Middle East history. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawAug 20, 2020
If I had a criticism of this film, it is that – like so many historians of spies and spying – the director gets a little overexcited about the archive details. Still, what a riveting story: a grim curtain-raiser to today’s tragedies. Read full review
80
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergAug 19, 2020
Is Coup 53 trustworthy in every respect? Perhaps not. Both as a detective story and as a deep dive into a world event whose consequences linger, it is bracing, absorbing filmmaking. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAug 19, 2020
Fiennes assumes the character and recites shocking revelations that Amirami’s obsessive research has disclosed. It sounds like a cheap trick, but the actor pulls it off flawlessly. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyAug 19, 2020
Coup 53 is worth seeing, but its general effect on this viewer was to seek out more books, rather than movies, on the subject. Which I suppose is something. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChris Barsanti
Once Taghi Amirani turns his attention to the coup itself, his film snaps into shape, with Walter Murch skillfully knitting together new and old interviews to lay out the story in highly dramatic form. Read full review
67
The Film StageMatt CipollaSep 8, 2020
Coup 53 isn’t the most coherent in approach or pacing, but its ambition––and overall literacy––ties its knots. Read full review
67
TheWrapSteve PondAug 21, 2020
As the movie turns more conventional, it struggles to retain the freshness it once had. Read full review
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