Koch
Zeitgeist Films | Release Date: February 1, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayJan 30, 2013
Neil Barsky's Koch doesn't try to do anything radical as a piece of filmmaking, but Barsky - a former newspaper reporter - covers Koch's story magnificently as a journalist. Read full review
88
New York PostLou LumenickJan 31, 2013
Koch ends with the former mayor showing off a typically flamboyant gesture that embodies his contradictions - choosing to be buried in a Christian cemetery in his beloved Manhattan, complete with an already erected tombstone proclaiming his Jewish identity. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanFeb 6, 2013
As a politico, Ed Koch loved power a little too much. But as a leader, he was a storybook embodiment of New York's contradictions, which is why his chapters in the city's saga loom so large. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyFeb 28, 2013
Barsky does a good job of taking all the complexity of such a major personality and the times in which he flourished and boiling it down to the essentials. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternFeb 28, 2013
Koch the film makes the point without belaboring it — a mayor and a metropolis linked by tumultuous events in the worst and best of times. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyApr 11, 2013
The documentary nicely mixes vintage news footage and photographs, talking-head interviews with journalists and Koch associates, and lots (and lots) of Koch. Read full review
75
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMar 16, 2013
The film reminds us that as amusing as he could be, he wasn’t the dazzling wit history packaged him as. “Relevant” is how he wanted to be remembered. And before he died, he got a filmmaker to remind us of exactly that. Read full review
75
NPRStephanie ZacharekJan 31, 2013
Neil Barsky's documentary Koch captures the essence of this very big personality - though if the film were even two minutes longer, it might constitute Koch overload. Luckily, Barsky knows when enough is enough, even if his subject doesn't. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 1, 2013
Barsky’s film is light on biographical detail before Koch’s first term began, in 1978. That’s probably fitting. Koch obviously lived for the job. Read full review
70
Village VoiceNick SchagerJan 29, 2013
It's an effective primer on a voluble and charismatic mayor who embodied the spirit of the city he loved. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJan 29, 2013
The film is a canny balancing act, making Koch's arrogance so plain that you quickly move past it and concede that he accomplished remarkable things for a city that was broke and in chaos and with much of its housing stock in ruins. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesFeb 27, 2013
The former mayor is an alert onscreen presence, but the film surrounding him is not always so lively. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineJan 30, 2013
Neil Barsky is aware of how a great and terribly troubling person can reside in the same body, but his occasional eagerness to appoint himself as his subject's latest press agent is dubious. Read full review
60
VarietyRonnie ScheibFeb 3, 2013
Barsky wisely includes just enough dissenting voices and admissions of grievous error by Koch himself to prevent the picture from seeming like a 100% feel-good puff piece. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJan 31, 2013
Like Walt Whitman, another hard-to-classify embodiment of the spirit of New York, he is contradictory and multitudinous. The hour and a half Mr. Barsky provides might be enough time for a lesser figure. Mr. Koch...needs more. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierJan 31, 2013
The politician who almost pathologically asked the question "How'm I doin'?" clearly never needed a view outside his own. Which is as New York as it gets. Read full review
60
Time OutDavid FearJan 29, 2013
The result is neither blind idolatry nor a definitive portrait; just a major missed opportunity content to loiter in the middle of the road. Read full review
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