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Benjamin Smoke
Cowboy Booking International

Benjamin Smoke reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 71 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
10.0 out of 10
based on 9 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 1 votes
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Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not rated

Starring Benjamin Dickerson, Patti Smith, Tim Campion, Brian Halloran, and Coleman Lewis

A documentary which examines the life of the HIV-positive leader of the Atlanta band Smoke.


GENRE(S): Documentary  
WRITTEN BY: Jem Cohen
Peter Sillen
 
DIRECTED BY: Jem Cohen
Peter Sillen
 
RELEASE DATE: DVD: January 21, 2003 
Theatrical: July 21, 2000 
RUNNING TIME: 72 minutes, BW / Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

90
Village Voice Amy Taubin
As ethereal, moving, and uncompromising as its subject.
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88
San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris
It's the hypnotic long-form music video Smoke never got to make.
80
The New York Times Dana Stevens
The film has a richer, more various visual texture than most documentaries, combining still photographs, black-and-white video and Super-8 film, sometimes with wild sound or none at all.
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80
Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
There's such a rawness, purity and even mystical force to everything Benjamin says or sings, that anything else would seem extraneous and detracting from the impact of a man who has lived his life with absolutely no holds barred.
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75
New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
It feels as though we're on a journey with Benjamin, who proves to be a wryly funny, passionate and complex traveling companion.
70
TV Guide Ken Fox
Make sure you catch this spooky and strangely moving portrait of this highly unusual artist while you can.
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70
LA Weekly Hazel-Dawn Dumpert
Poignant portrait.
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58
Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson
As a portrait of a man barely qualifying for a cinematic portrait, Benjamin Smoke is a trifle, but when Sillen and Cohen turn their cameras on the weedy, workaday, hellhole America that Benjamin calls home, the movie comes alive.
50
New York Post Lou Lumenick
Rather morbid.

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 10.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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