Cold Case Hammarskjöld
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: August 16, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
76
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Washington PostAnn HornadayAug 21, 2019
Funny, provocative and chilling, Cold Case Hammarskjold draws the viewer into that helix and manages to be improbably entertaining, even as it becomes increasingly, shockingly uncomfortable. It’s impossible to emerge from this film without being shaken to your core. Mission accomplished: Mind blown. Read full review
100
The PlaylistJordan RuimyFeb 7, 2019
Brügger’s movie plays mostly like a real-time thriller, to be honest, but whatever hybrid of non-fiction you want to categorize Cold Case Hammarskjöld, it’s nothing short of groundbreaking. Read full review
91
The Film StageJordan RaupFeb 1, 2019
[A] thoroughly engrossing documentary. Read full review
90
Screen DailyJonathan RomneyFeb 1, 2019
However sceptical you feel about Brügger’s approach, and his findings, this is an arresting, troubling work – and, for all the horror, an intensely entertaining one too. Read full review
90
VarietyOwen GleibermanFeb 1, 2019
Cold Case Hammarskjöld doesn’t offer the last word about the issues it raises. But it’s a movie that should be seen, grappled with, argued with, and experienced, because the questions it plants in us are dark enough to reverberate as powerfully as answers. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireAug 16, 2019
A tremendously absorbing film, a documentary that plays like a first-rate thriller hinging on key issues of the Cold War and African decolonization. Read full review
83
IndieWireDavid EhrlichFeb 1, 2019
If Cold Case Hammarskjöld resolves as Brügger’s most rewarding film, it appears to reach that point almost by accident. His usual methods achieve most unusual results, as he digs into the facts with the wry amusement of someone who doesn’t expect to find anything. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfAug 16, 2019
Though its come-on is playful, this documentary sinks into some swampy subjects, including racism, secret biowarfare and political assassination. Read full review
80
The New YorkerAnthony LaneAug 12, 2019
For novices, the film will serve as a lively, if annoying, introduction to the Hammarskjöld mystery, yet there’s a sadness here. The more we are encouraged to puzzle over the darkness of his death, the less heed will be paid to his illuminating life. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDan FienbergFeb 1, 2019
It's definitely Brugger's most satisfyingly unsatisfying effort. A conspiracy-fueled murder mystery with some hilarious meta-commentary on the genre, Cold Case Hammarskjold is either a stunning piece of investigative reporting that builds to a revelatory climax or a wily trickster's dark critique of the audience's desperate need for answers. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAug 21, 2019
As in his previous documentaries, Brügger’s actions and tone are shot through with pitch-black gallows humor and dizzying moments of absurdist farce, equal parts Hunter Thompson, Michael Moore, and the great, self-effacing British journalist Jon Ronson. Read full review
75
Original-CinLiam LaceyAug 15, 2019
Cold Case Hammarskjöld is likely to be divisive; I’m divided myself. Brügger’s awkward juxtaposition of clowning with real-life horrors is off-putting. In a time plagued by conspiracy theories, the film is an example of an acutely timely uneasiness, reminding us how conspiracies can be simultaneously toxic and compelling. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerAug 14, 2019
The documentary is a gas, with all the conspiracy-theory weirdness of Oliver Stone’s "JFK," but with the added attraction of Brugger’s gonzo-journalism shenanigans. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChuck BowenAug 14, 2019
The film is about a mystery that isn’t solved, and how that inconclusiveness spotlights the insidious functions of society. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreJul 30, 2019
In the end, perhaps it is less important that Cold Case Hammarskjöld finds or doesn’t find its “smoking gun,” or that it makes or doesn’t make its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneDavid FearAug 17, 2019
It may be a bit of a stretch to call what Brügger delivers here a documentary, exactly — it’s a “true” crime story with an emphasis on the quotes. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangAug 15, 2019
A twisty, thorny new documentary that grips, jolts and exasperates in roughly equal measure. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternAug 15, 2019
The trip is entertaining and even instructive — not about the facts of the case, which go from murky to opaque, but about the slip-slidingly elusive nature of truth. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinAug 14, 2019
If, like so many conspiracy-mongers, Brügger is in this to make his name, whatever the social consequences, his comeuppance should be swift. But I want to believe that this isn’t a stunt and that his first-person meta nonsense — his desire to call attention to his floundering — is a sign of honesty, not obscurantism. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyAug 14, 2019
If Brügger shares the doubts of Williams and other Hammarskjöld conspiracy theorists about Operation Celeste (in all likelihood a hoax, though not a Soviet one), he doesn’t let them get in the way of a good story. As for the latest official U.N. inquiry, its report is due sometime this year. But then, can you really trust it? Read full review
60
SlateJoshua KeatingAug 14, 2019
In another era, the film’s postmodern affectations might have been more entertaining, but in the current era, the enterprise feels a little more sinister. Read full review
50
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergAug 15, 2019
Cold Case Hammarskjold is finally poised unsatisfyingly between an explosive exposé and a self-conscious put-on. Even a full acceptance of its assertions doesn’t do much to illuminate Hammarskjold’s death. Read full review
49
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiAug 15, 2019
The first half is a drowsy day at the office, full of complex paperwork minutiae that, too much of the time, doesn’t even pan out by the end of the movie. The second half is more horrifying to think about but less scrupulously presented and, as such, harder to believe. Read full review
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