Cunningham
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: December 13, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Original-CinLiam LaceyJan 14, 2020
The film is kinetic and elliptical, with clips from different eras juxtaposed in panels, moving back to a single frame of dancers’ feet, or artfully posed in instants of euphoria. This is a film that makes you want to absorb the language of dance or, at least, immerse yourself in more Merce, which makes this an exemplary introduction to a major twentieth century artist. Read full review
100
Boston GlobePeter KeoughJan 3, 2020
“[Dance] gives you nothing back,” says Cage. “No manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive.” Kovgan’s film comes close to capturing that moment. Read full review
100
RogerEbert.comNick AllenDec 13, 2019
There’s been nothing quite like Alla Kovgan’s Cunningham, an exhilarating testament to documentaries as a boundless form of art. Read full review
100
VarietyTomris LafflyDec 12, 2019
Kovgan’s ode to choreography master Merce Cunningham is sensational in every sense of the word. Renewing one’s appreciation of the many wonders of the human body and the space in which it fills and drifts, Cunningham celebrates all the things our joints and flexed muscles are capable of, as seen through the mind and poetic dances of an iconic creator. Read full review
100
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenDec 12, 2019
What Kovgan's utterly transporting film does, through a thoughtful and dynamic combination of curated material and new performances, is radiate the rapturous power of dance. Read full review
90
Screen DailySarah WardDec 12, 2019
Never making an obvious move, like its subject, the end result veers close to avant-garde. That’s a term that Cunningham himself famously and continually shunned; however Kovgan clearly doesn’t share the same concern. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranDec 12, 2019
Cunningham makes good on its stated goal of doing justice to the man’s spirit of inventiveness. Read full review
80
The New York TimesBrian SeibertDec 12, 2019
What the film doesn’t give is an accurate sense of Cunningham time. In a Cunningham dance, the mind can wander, experience different rates of change, be baffled, engrossed, astonished, bored. The price of Kovgan’s efficiency is impatience, always cutting away and moving on. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiJan 3, 2020
Cunningham adheres to a distinctly romantic approach to the artist: irascible and railing against the hypocrisy of humanity through these wonderful and complicated movements that soar above and beyond. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Chandler LevackJan 8, 2020
If we are take Merce Cunningham at his word, and the joys of dance really are ephemeral, Cunningham makes a compelling case for the doing of it, over and over again. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRachel HowardJan 2, 2020
In Cunningham, the presentation is riveting. Read full review
70
TheWrapDan CallahanDec 12, 2019
Cunningham is valuable as an introduction to the work of this major artist, who is sometimes seen dancing himself in archival footage, unfurling his long legs and arms and exploring the most eccentric movements without fear or physical roadblocks of any kind. Read full review
67
IndieWireKate ErblandMar 27, 2020
While Kovgan, a Russian filmmaker who has made her own contributions to the world of dance through film and performances, has a clear affection and respect for Cunningham, her solo feature debut is unable to do much more than hold him at arm’s length. Read full review
63
Washington PostThomas FloydDec 30, 2019
When it comes to exploring the man behind the art, the film’s execution feels out of step with its ambition. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineChris BarsantiDec 6, 2019
While some individuals are inevitably more compelling than others, as a whole the entire series, and “63 Up” in particular, is completely enveloping as it draws us into the latest happenings of these people we’ve followed for so long. Read full review
60
The GuardianCath ClarkeMar 31, 2020
The film is, I think, just as Cunningham would have wanted it: cerebral, highbrow and mildly frustrating, with nothing so conventional as talking heads or context. Read full review
60
EmpireElla KempMar 10, 2020
The revolutionary visuals find endless ways to honour the mind of an innovator – but simultaneously risk an overwhelm of aesthetic information, rather than a lucid insight into the anatomy of contemporary dance. Read full review
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