Welcome to Leith
First Run Features | Release Date: September 9, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
78
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Los Angeles TimesMartin TsaiNov 5, 2015
This cautionary tale couldn't be more timely or essential. Read full review
100
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriSep 13, 2015
Welcome to Leith is a sober, terrifying look at the very real monsters roaming the quiet countryside. Read full review
88
Boston GlobePeter KeoughNov 4, 2015
Like another documentary set in North Dakota, Jesse Moss’s “The Overnighters,” they follow the story for months as it unfolds, offering no editorial guidance except dates and places and a soundtrack by T. Griffith that underscores the growing angst and pending horror. Welcome to Leith. Say goodbye to certitude. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'HehirSep 10, 2015
The way those things come together in this strange tale of a small-town newcomer and his crazy dream — it’s like “The Music Man,” except really, really depressing — illustrate a different problem that is not easy to pin down. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckSep 9, 2015
Grippingly depicting the ensuing tensions that constantly threaten to spill over into violence — even while raising discomfiting questions about the scope of First Amendment rights — the film is a nail-biter from start to finish. Read full review
80
Village VoiceDiana ClarkeSep 8, 2015
[A] fascinating, unnerving documentary. Read full review
80
CineVuePatrick GambleAug 28, 2015
By adopting an eerily voyeuristic approach and filming the barren North Dakota landscape with a cold, penetrating gaze Welcome to Leith creates a bone chilling atmosphere not too dissimilar to a horror film; leading the audience down a compelling, yet genuinely unnerving path into the darkest rudiments of the human psyche. Read full review
80
The GuardianBrian MoylanAug 28, 2015
It is as well-balanced and observed a documentary as there is, even if no sane human being could side with Cobb and his people. Read full review
80
VarietyDennis HarveyAug 28, 2015
The conflict between different notions of freedom, law-enforcement problems, and an atmosphere of escalating violent threat make Michael Beach Nichols and Christopher K. Walker’s documentary as engrossing as a fictional thriller. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoOct 29, 2015
Hand it to directors Michael Beach Nichols and Christopher K. Walker, who could have made the story into a black-hat/white-hat affair. Without soft-pedaling Cobb’s noxious ideology, they implicitly raise questions about how Leith responded to the perceived danger. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoSep 8, 2015
It's easy to make a documentary about hateful people. It's harder to focus on the impact of hateful people on those around them. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreSep 8, 2015
What’s surprising is the way Welcome to Leith achieves a balance in the storytelling. Read full review
75
The PlaylistKate ErblandAug 28, 2015
At its heart, Welcome to Leith is about change and how toxic decisions and beliefs can irreparably ruin bystanders’ lives. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen HoldenSep 8, 2015
Welcome to Leith wisely resists the kind of gimmickry that might have resulted in a stylistic hybrid of “The Blair Witch Project” or “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonSep 8, 2015
A solid documentary feeling of “you are there” isn’t always a substitute for “…but here’s what happened when you left, and here’s what it all meant.” Read full review
60
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonFeb 9, 2016
What Welcome to Leith does very well is dig deep and expose Cobb – and by extension the entire American neo-Nazi movement – as weak, confused and desperate, using a dying ideology as a way to feel less alone in the world. Read full review
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