Lynch/Oz
Janus Films | Release Date: June 2, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
6
Negative:
1
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyJun 2, 2023
The way Philippe organizes the hundreds of clips provides more startling and exhilarating moments per minute than most movies about movies can muster, although I can’t say that aficionados of ostensibly realistic cinema aren't going to be too thrilled. Which is too bad, because among the many things this picture captures is how the fanciful worlds of “Oz” and Lynch illuminate the pain and splendor of the world we have to inhabit once we leave the magic realm of cinema. Read full review
80
Rolling StoneDavid FearJun 5, 2023
In a perfect world, viewers would get college credit after watching Lynch/Oz. You may not walk away any closer to a degree, unfortunately, but you will definitely land over this rainbow with an entirely different view of a maverick filmmaker’s work, as filtered through Hollywood canon fodder. Read full review
80
CineVueMartyn ConterioDec 19, 2022
What Philippe does yet again, as with his his previous documentaries, is a bang-up job of examining what makes great films great, and here it is twofold: showing that The Wizard of Oz is not just an all-timer in its own right, but showcasing how Lynch drew on its emotional and cosmic resonance, in overt and oblique ways, for his own iconic forays. Read full review
80
Screen DailyTara JudahOct 10, 2022
With its impressive array of hundreds of film clips, frenetic editing and whip-smart narrators, Lynch/Oz offers an exciting prism through which to view Lynch’s oeuvre. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChris BarsantiMay 26, 2023
Alexandre O. Philippe’s essay film is both dead-serious about its subjects and playfully exploratory. Read full review
75
The PlaylistCharles BramescoOct 5, 2022
A mite repetitive at nearly two hours, it’s still an edifying intermediate-level study compressing academic insight into personal reflection, and vice versa. Read full review
75
The Film StageMichael FrankOct 5, 2022
For a Lynch diehard, Lynch/Oz will be catnip. For any average moviegoer, it digs into the well of American cinema history with enough fascination that it’s worth a watch. Read full review
70
Little White LiesMarina AshiotiDec 10, 2022
By transposing the video essay format to a feature-length affair, Philippe attempts a union of theory (criticism) and practice (documentary filmmaking), and so the very ontology of Lynch/Oz becomes a subject of fascination in its own right. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerJul 5, 2023
Even its flaws and occasional moments of repetition between authors cannot detract from this fascinating collection about one of the great filmmakers of our era. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichOct 5, 2022
Lynch/Oz is less compelling for any of its individual theories or observations than for how it frames movies as permeable membranes that flicker between personal obsession and the collective unconscious. Read full review
65
TheWrapSimon AbramsOct 10, 2022
While some talking points tend to be belabored and others don’t get unpacked at great enough length, Lynch/Oz still offers movie-lovers a variety of thoughtful and dynamic new ways of seeing Lynch’s work. Read full review
60
VarietyOwen GleibermanOct 10, 2022
Lynch/Oz is bursting with ideas about it, and about how it colonized the consciousness of David Lynch, but the movie is too pie-in-the-sky to quite make it over the rainbow. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeOct 10, 2022
Though frustratingly unfocused and sometimes overreaching (even compared to Philippe’s other docs, which are never what you’d call precision-crafted), the film is consistently enjoyable, with just enough flashes of insight to justify its existence. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleJun 16, 2023
Philippe winds up with a curatorial hodgepodge; the lovingly cited connections about shifting realities, artifice, searching and all those plush Lynchian curtains never coalesce into anything unifying, and sometimes get repeated by different narrators. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn HornadayJun 13, 2023
Lynch/Oz possesses undeniable value, if only to remind viewers that cinema is worth dissecting, thinking about, arguing over, mulling around. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 8, 2023
Unwittingly, Lynch/Oz ends up demonstrating the flimsiness of comparison as a tool of film criticism. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla DargisJun 1, 2023
As the documentary repetitiously circles its subject and piles on greater numbers of clips — more than 50 movies are dropped into the 20-minute final chapter (“Dig”), hosted by the director David Lowery — whatever points Philippe is trying to make have been hopelessly lost. Read full review
20
Film ThreatMichael Talbot-HaynesNov 11, 2022
Behind the pseudo-intellectual curtain of Philippe’s pseudo-documentary, you will not find a wizard. You will find nothing at all. Read full review
More From This Movie

62 Critic Reviews

tbd User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL