I Am Not Your Negro
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: December 9, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
95
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
36
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
SalonAndrew O'HehirFeb 9, 2017
It’s an enormously resonant work of cultural history that should do much to renew attention to the lonely, prophetic voice of James Baldwin. Read full review
100
Consequence of SoundBlake GobleFeb 4, 2017
I Am Not Your Negro is the kind of documentary that could open ears, eyes, and hearts with its moving agony and historical empathy. Read full review
100
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldFeb 3, 2017
It’s not a biopic, but I Am Not Your Negro leaves you wanting to know and read more of Baldwin, to experience the language that pours from this film like a fiery balm. Read full review
100
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternFeb 2, 2017
The film is unsparing as history and enthralling as biography. Read full review
100
Washington PostAnn HornadayFeb 2, 2017
A brilliant piece of filmic writing, one that bursts with fierce urgency, not just for the long-unresolved history it seeks to confront, but also in its attempt to understand what is happening here, right now. Read full review
100
The New York TimesA.O. ScottFeb 2, 2017
Though its principal figure, the novelist, playwright and essayist James Baldwin, is a man who has been dead for nearly 30 years, you would be hard-pressed to find a movie that speaks to the present moment with greater clarity and force, insisting on uncomfortable truths and drawing stark lessons from the shadows of history. Read full review
100
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniFeb 2, 2017
I’m Not Your Negro is an unforgettable work. Baldwin’s words – eloquently spoken by Samuel Jackson – will haunt you. Read full review
100
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottFeb 2, 2017
The result is a film that is at once sobering and thoughtful -- and, yes, uncomfortable, at times. But it's a necessary uncomfortable. Read full review
100
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonFeb 2, 2017
Brilliantly blending archival material, including clips of Baldwin on television and in public appearances, with narration by Samuel L. Jackson, Peck makes intriguing connections between the 20th century civil rights movement and the contemporary activism of Black Lives Matter. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsFeb 2, 2017
This movie isn't just a tribute to Baldwin. It's a warning bell regarding leaders who, in Baldwin's words, care only about "their safety and their profits." Read full review
100
Boston GlobeTy BurrFeb 2, 2017
Here are great swaths of Baldwin’s prose, read by Samuel L. Jackson in a vocal impersonation that is actually a rather brilliant piece of acting — he convinces you it’s the writer you’re hearing. Read full review
100
IndieWireEric KohnFeb 2, 2017
By the end of I Am Not Your Negro, Baldwin’s words have transcended the boundaries of their era and become timeless, functioning as both a celebration of cultural survival and a warning that the battle for its survival won’t stop anytime soon. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranDec 8, 2016
What makes I Am Not Your Negro a mesmerizing cinematic experience, smart, thoughtful and disturbing, goes well beyond words. Read full review
100
Time OutJoshua RothkopfDec 8, 2016
Masterfully addressing the American racial divide, past and present, director Raoul Peck’s six-years-in-the-making documentary, I Am Not Your Negro, is a galvanizing, ominous film, thrumming with a sense of history repeating itself. Read full review
100
Village VoiceOdie HendersonDec 6, 2016
Readers of Baldwin’s work already know that it’s as timely and relevant today as it was when he wrote it decades ago. I Am Not Your Negro powerfully highlights this point for today. Read full review
100
The GuardianJordan HoffmanOct 22, 2016
It is a striking work of storytelling. By assembling the scattered images and historical clips suggested by Baldwin’s writing, I Am Not Your Negro is a cinematic séance, and one of the best movies about the civil rights era ever made. Read full review
100
VarietyOwen GleibermanOct 22, 2016
Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro is the rare movie that might be called a spiritual documentary. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyJan 26, 2017
If there’s a flaw with the film (and it’s a minor one), it’s Peck’s impulse to cram it with clips from lily-white Doris Day movies and John Wayne Westerns that are a bit too on the nose. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayDec 6, 2016
While the subject matter is difficult, the documentary itself is easy to watch and exciting to grapple with. Its biggest strengths are Jackson’s voice and Baldwin’s commentary, which combine to create a distinctively world-weary tone. Read full review
91
The Film StageMichael SnydelNov 16, 2016
Peck has made one of this year’s finest documentaries. At once pulsing with anger and yearning for compassion, it’s an examination of past and present America as a cycle where the backdrop has changed and particulars have remained the same. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzFeb 16, 2017
Its importance lies in Baldwin’s insistence on exposing truths, many of them uncomfortable, many of them more urgent than ever. Read full review
90
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeFeb 3, 2017
No movie is going to fix the world, but films like I Am Not Your Negro demand accountability from its audience, both on a personal level and as a community of human beings. Read full review
90
TimeStephanie ZacharekFeb 2, 2017
Peck captures all that’s galvanizing and forceful about Baldwin’s words and demeanor. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinFeb 1, 2017
Raoul Peck’s driving, free-form documentary I Am Not Your Negro is not a direct response to Donald Trump’s delighted recognition of the lone nonwhite face he saw at one of his rallies: “Look at my African-American over here!” But the movie feels, if anything, even timelier, which is to say, timeless. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungOct 22, 2016
It is a searing and topical indictment of racial prejudice and hatred in America that makes for uneasy viewing and is not easily forgotten. Read full review
90
Screen DailyTim GriersonOct 22, 2016
Baldwin’s insights originate from 1979, but they still speak volumes, and Peck makes their observations sting. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenFeb 1, 2017
Ideas and their visual illustrations come at the viewer in a cascading torrent. The editing by Alexandra Strauss deserves its own recognition for its painstaking exactness. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Durga Chew-Bose Feb 23, 2017
It’s an astonishing, often challenging and sharp examination of race in the United States. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversFeb 2, 2017
It's unmissable and unforgettable. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineClayton DillardJan 30, 2017
The film makes no concessions about its dissatisfaction with the whole rotten lot of so-called western democracy. Read full review
88
Movie NationRoger MooreJan 4, 2017
Best of all is the man who stands front and center, thinking, smoking and expounding, off-the-cuff, about a subject he spent his career and life mulling over, fuming over and struggling to understand in depth. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzDec 9, 2016
Baldwin's voice as a writer comes through powerfully anyway. It was wise to have Jackson read Baldwin's words plainly in his own voice, rather than attempt an impersonation. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerFeb 24, 2017
Alternately discursive, philosophical, agitprop, and accusatory, the film itself is a species of essay. Read full review
80
CineVueLucy PopescuApr 10, 2017
Although past and current race relations are starkly drawn, Peck's film never feels bleak. This is mainly due to Baldwin's charismatic screen presence, his passion for reasoned argument and the power of his rhetoric. Read full review
80
EmpireJimi FamurewaApr 3, 2017
Peck’s film may have been an Oscars bridesmaid but it turns Baldwin’s prescient words into a staggering achievement. It’s an exhilarating blast of focused fury. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleFeb 2, 2017
What keeps I Am Not Your Negro just short of greatness is, alas, the competition from Baldwin himself. Watching it, it’s hard not keep wanting to see more of Baldwin and hear less of Jackson. Read full review
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