The Brink
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: March 29, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
2
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
CineVueTom DugginsJul 12, 2019
The film is a compelling, concerning artefact which shows demagoguery in action, without coming across as heavy-handed. Read full review
90
The New York TimesA.O. ScottMar 28, 2019
Fast-moving, tightly packed, at times unnervingly entertaining. Read full review
90
VarietyOwen GleibermanFeb 16, 2019
The Brink is an impeccably crafted verité ramble — an engaging and enraging, disturbing and highly revealing movie. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshApr 4, 2019
Bannon may think he's constantly manipulating the media, but in this film, Klayman uses the tools of documentary filmmaking to reveal his inherent emptiness. Read full review
87
TheWrapTodd GilchristFeb 1, 2019
Klayman, an increasingly skilled observer as a documentarian, occasionally succumbs to her own curiosity, or maybe incredulity, to ask him a question about these comments, or positions, but mostly, her quiet, unobtrusive gaze exposes his flaws without requiring interjection. Read full review
83
ConsequenceBlake GobleApr 8, 2019
Running the gamut from grotesque to goofy to genuinely scary, Alison Klayman has assembled a compelling and tight look into the inner workings of modern politics in the Trumpian key. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeJul 15, 2019
It’s unsavoury viewing – flies on the wall are rarely attracted by the sweet smell of roses after all – but it’s queasily fascinating nonetheless. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawJul 11, 2019
What emerges from Klayman’s film is how very important Brexit Britain is as a self-vivisecting research animal in Bannon’s experimental thinking. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerApr 11, 2019
Sure, the film’s a bit of a hit job. But hey, as Bannon himself tells us, “There’s no bad media.” Sadly, he’s probably right. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrApr 3, 2019
The Brink shows a salesman tirelessly peddling poison door to door and knowing it’s only a matter of time before someone lets him in. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyMar 29, 2019
It’s when Bannon starts turning his attention to Europe, and then the 2018 midterms, that Klayman gets to record the less pleasant aspects of Bannon’s personality — those you thought were always there, maybe, but that he was able to keep hidden. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayMar 27, 2019
Thank goodness, then, for The Brink, which is just the kind of lucid, observant, chillingly contradictory portrait Bannon deserves. Read full review
75
The PlaylistAndrew BundyMar 25, 2019
The award-winning filmmaker is a one-woman crew on the project, and Klayman’s tenacious fly on the wall, verité approach illuminates the cynical limitations of Bannon’s cruel human worldview through day-to-day contradictions, far more than an interview-style documentary where such a figure is given a platform to talk in circles ever possibly could. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChris BarsantiMar 24, 2019
Alison Klayman’s fly-on-the-wall documentary cuts Trump’s Rasputin down to size but doesn’t completely dismiss his power. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnFeb 1, 2019
The result is a watchable overview with few explosive details, but plenty of reasons to root for his downfall, and some modicum of payoff. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneDavid FearMar 29, 2019
The Brink, Alison Klayman’s insightful and often unnerving look at one of the most divisive figures in recent memory, isn’t a particularly fun or easy watch. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMar 28, 2019
What The Brink does best is show the missionary zeal that sustains this eccentric warrior — “this gross-looking Jabba the Hutt drunk” is how he says he was perceived during the 2016 campaign. The film lets him speak for himself, which he does with wry charm, combative zest, scary certainty, unquenchable energy that can’t be explained by all the Red Bulls he gulps, and an ego undiminished by adversity. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriFeb 1, 2019
So what makes The Brink so different from just another platform for this professional troll? Though Klayman sticks to a largely vérité approach of following her subject around and observing his various interactions, she also provides important context. Read full review
67
Original-CinLiam LaceyApr 9, 2019
The Brink, director Alison Klayman’s year-long cinema verité portrait of Steve Bannon, is unlikely to change anyone’s mind about Donald Trump’s political strategist, who helped connect the candidate to white nationalists before falling out of favour. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerApr 3, 2019
With remarkable access, Klayman is prepared to let Bannon hang himself with his own words. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 12, 2019
Perhaps its going to take two documentaries to plumb the depths of Bannon’s persona, what drives this frump who rails against elites even as he’s serving their purposes so well. Klayman’s has an incomplete yet polished feel to it. There’s too much we don’t find out. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranMar 28, 2019
Cinéma vérité all the way, a classic fly-on-the-wall documentary that follows Bannon for about a year as he flies hither and yon on private jets, taking meetings, bolstering supporters and attempting to turn his brand of fervent nationalism into a global movement. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloMar 26, 2019
The inherent risk of this vérité approach is that your subject won’t prove to be all that fascinating, and The Brink, while far more openly critical of Bannon than "American Dharma," ultimately offers little justification for spending an hour and a half in his company. Read full review
33
The Film StageVikram MurthiFeb 1, 2019
The vast majority of the people watching The Brink have their minds made up about Bannon and will not be swayed by his flamboyant rhetoric. At the same time, it’s difficult to pinpoint what exactly Klayman accomplishes with her film beyond a mere political horror show one can safely view from behind proverbial Plexiglas. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeFeb 1, 2019
This Bannon is a snooze, occasionally making a wry aside but nearly never saying anything unusually smart or new. ... It's hard to see what ordinary viewers at any point on the political spectrum will gain from this particular status report. Read full review
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