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- 2021
- Greenwich Entertainment
- 1 h 36 m
- 2021
- Greenwich Entertainment
- 1 h 36 m
Summary Ady Barkan’s life is upended when he is diagnosed with ALS, but a confrontation with a powerful Senator catapults him to national fame and ignites a once-in-a-generation political movement.
Directed By: Nicholas Bruckman
Written By: Kent Bassett, Amanda Roddy, Martha Shane
- 2021
- Greenwich Entertainment
- 1 h 36 m
- 2021
- Greenwich Entertainment
- 1 h 36 m
Not Going Quietly
73
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
tbd
Where to Watch
Summary Ady Barkan’s life is upended when he is diagnosed with ALS, but a confrontation with a powerful Senator catapults him to national fame and ignites a once-in-a-generation political movement.
Directed By: Nicholas Bruckman
Written By: Kent Bassett, Amanda Roddy, Martha Shane
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
73
89% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
11% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
73
89% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
11% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Barkan proves a highly engaging man, impassioned but funnier than a terminally ill man should be. Intimate scenes with his young family are essential to the appeal of a film whose big issues remain as pressing now as they were during filming in 2018.
Along with his editor Kent Bassett, Bruckman weaves these events together rather conventionally yet thoughtfully, making plenty of room for Barkan’s home life and appealingly chipper character that he somehow manages to maintain through all his battles.
Health care is unquestionably one of the most complicated problems the government ever has to grapple with, even without the obstacles and obfuscation from dark money and corporate lobbyists. We do not need a briefing book, but the film would be more effective if it clarified some of the priorities Barkan and his group are advocating.
Not Going Quietly lets us see a fierce, and dying, advocate for health care show us what John Lewis meant by “Good trouble.”
The movie makes its points in grand, emotional gestures more than policy nuances, but what it lacks in sophistication it makes up in immediacy. The drama acts as a visceral of ode to the nature of activism under dire circumstances.
It is a warm and generous portrait, but the film lacks its central organizer’s propulsive shrewdness.
Smart, funny and endearingly sweary even when he loses the power to speak without computer assistance, Barkan is a charismatic character who’s easy to like, although one wonders how much the documentary crew resisted showing anything that might dent the halo the film sets round his head.
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Production Company
People's Television,
Duplass Brothers Productions,
Hungry Mule Amusement,
Park Pictures,
PatMa Productions
Release Date Aug 13, 2021
Duration 1 h 36 m
Genres
Awards
SXSW Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations
International Documentary Association
• 3 Nominations
Next Generation Indie Film Awards
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations
