Capturing the Friedmans

  • 2003


MOVIE IS compelling ultimate disturbing fascinating disconcertingly
Close Video

83 %
97 % Certified-fresh
$ 4 Million
Award Winner
See Where to Watch Capturing the Friedmans
Positive Reviews 65
Negative reviews 10
Average Rating 3.9/5
compelling ultimate disturbing fascinating disconcertingly

  • All
  • Positive
  • Negative
4.5
First time director Jarecki, better known as the co founder of MovieFone, skillfully integrates the home movie footage with his own thorough inquiry, .. Av Club
3.0
Gripping, lacerating, moving, and tragic a work of documentary art. EW
4.4
She withdraws, is passive aggressive; its hard to know what shes thinking. Rogerebert
4.5
A stirring examination of truth at odds with perception, the high price of privacy in the media era and the blinding veil of blood ties. Variety
4.5
Theres gore, all right, although the real terror lies in the tease, and the often dark, herky jerky DV format ratchets up the tension to an almost unb .. Austin Chronicle
3.1
An oddly riveting chronicle of one familys devastating demise and, less successfully, an attempt to shed light on the validity of pedophile witch hunt ..
4.5
An incredibly provocative, fascinating film that is about the way one eccentric family faced an intolerable crisis and the confounding wheels of justi ..
4.5
107mins Capturing The Friedmans walked away with this years Sundance grand jury prize for best documentary and deservedly so. Screen Daily
4.5
Jarecki started out to make a documentary movie about New York Citys top childrens party entertainer, clown David Friedman.
5.0
It leaves us puzzling, long after the film has ended, about the Friedmans strange family dynamics, about the justice system and community that condemn .. San Francisco Chronicle
3.0
A profoundly disturbing film, but a brilliant one...It portrays the disintegration of an American family in a fashion that would have done Eugene ONei .. One Guys Opinion
4.4
In the end, while Jarecki may not be able to answer our most basic questions about the guilt or innocence of the Friedmans, he makes a profound statem .. ReelViews
3.8
He subscribes to kiddie porn magazines and keeps a stash behind the piano. Combust Ible Celluloid
2.0
The filmmakers have artfully constructed a disturbing family history from present day interviews and copious family archival footage, often disturbing ..
5.0
Not since Memento has a movie served up such a provocative mind bender, and the Sundance winner by first time filmmaker Andrew Jarecki has the advanta .. Usa Today
2.0
One day, postal inspectors obtained a search warrant for the Friedman house. Lariat
3.0
I honestly dont know Jareckis opinion on the innocence or guilty of the Friedmans, and thats a good thing. Eric Ds Nider
4.0
And while its clever and rather creepy, the final conclusion isnt terribly surprising. Shadows On The Wall
5.0
Staff ***1/2 Stunning photography, interesting footage, empty narration. Cs Monitor
3.8
So effective in the way it challenges our perceptions about what we believe and what we think we know that it qualifies as a must see. Deseret News (Salt Lake Ci ..
3.0
Crime story and family drama are intricately woven together in this unusual tale of a household in a well to do suburb. Internet Reviews
5.0
A devastating and tragic tale of one suburban familys meltdown as played out on the 6 oclock news and in private home videos. Boston
4.5
You want real It doesnt get any more real, or any more marvelous, than that.
4.0
Without a doubt a disconcertingly engrossing, difficult to shake experience. Toronto Star
4.5
Andrew Jarecki could have done more to lay out the marriage of sexual and religious and social hysteria that made cases like this possible. But he des .. Salon
4.5
The rubat least for the movieis that Arnold doesnt have the stature of a tragic protagonist. Slate
1.0
This is finally a particularly naked and invasive form of voyeurism, The Real World for the PBS crowd. Calendar Live
3.0
Latest Entertainment Videos At the heart of the film is an unsettlingly intimate portrait of the family as it combusts under pressure. Seattle Pi
4.5
While with any number of... documentaries one can happily say wait until it turns up on the small screen, with Capturing the Friedmans it is well wort .. Standard
5.0
Look, the real wonder of WW84 is that this maybe isnt the worst thing about it. Film Freak Central
3.0
Jarecki lets the audience decipher the story through the Friedmans themselves, specifically via incredible and personal home movies (seen here for the .. E Online
4.5
A vividly personal, devastating story of a family that was hopelessly compromised years before it was scapegoated for crimes that two of its members m .. La Weekly
5.0
Its an exquisitely timed and organized drama, one that regularly detonates with nuclear strength revelations that force us to stop and reconsider ever .. Kansas City
4.0
That isnt to say that he sugar coats the very real failings of this family. Killer Movie Reviews
5.0
However willingly, the Friedmans squirmed under a microscope in fascinatingly and frustratingly inconclusive ways. The Filmy Ap
4.4
The questions of sexual abuse, family dysfunction and police zealousness and the examination given to them remain eerily fascinating. Sltrib
2.0
Interestingly enough Howard, who is living with a gay partner, doesnt remember this. Dennis Schwartz Reviews
4.5
Successfully up reality to our ideals, creating a portrait of devastation. Window To The Movies
2.0
Where so many reality shows shrink a subject down to snug, humiliating form, Friedmans takes the opposite approach. Guide Live
4.5
Capturing the Friedmans captures a time when greed was good, mullets were cool, and hysteria was everywhere. Rediff
4.0
A successful childrens entertainer, David Friedmans professional life of comedy masked a deeply tragic history. Future Movies
4.4
Jarecki constructs the documentary in the same way a mystery writer would plot a brainteasing novel. After the first half hour, youll have strong impr .. James Sanford on Film
4.4
...one comes away with a sense of angered sensationalism...Clearly, this odd and probing documentary is affecting in its seedy uncertainty. Movie Eye
3.5
The movie doesnt wrap everything up in a big bow and tell you what youre supposed to think in the end, it demands that you draw your own conclusions.. .. TheMovieChicks.com
4.5
. . .a powerful and disturbing work. . .The immediacy of this film makes it truly a modern documentary. IGN Movies
4.5
And still another, an interior is titled, Arnies office/inner sanctum dont touch! Nitrate Online
4.0
No film should be allowed to be this intimate, but Capturing the Friedmans is a miracle of emotional timing and technical documentation. Films Nobs
2.5
A document that, much like the denial stricken members of the Friedman clan, seems to have become so clouded by bias that it refuses to look for the t .. Movie Martyr
3.0
Director Jarecki takes his time in presenting the divergent points of view. But even at nearly two hours, one still feels there is a lack of informati .. Film Forward
4.0
When a community put a family under suspicion, they put themselves on camera and this documentary shows it all. Net Flix
4.4
Jarecki does a remarkable job with this easily exploitable material. Premiere Magazine
2.0
Much of this information could have been delivered in a way that respected the Friedmans, even if they did not respect each other. Looking Closer
4.5
Their watchword seems to have been Where theres smoke theres firea clich, in fact, invoked by Assistant District Attorney Joseph Onorato. World Socialist Web Site
2.0
The film is an examination of the complexity of characters and behaviors that we would prefer to explain simply, the slippery nature of memory, and th .. About Film
4.3
Youll leave the theater theorizing which is a triumph for the filmmaker...thats exactly what he wants. Supercala.com
4.5
Capturing the Friedmans is a confusing, fascinating, even frightening meditation on truth, the justice system and the nature of families. San Diego Metropolitan
3.0
Director Andrew Jarecki mounts a convincing argument but declines to work up the kind of scalding condemnation of the justice system that his findings .. Deep Focus
4.5
This film is not to be missed, because it is so painfully and profoundly human. Ny Observer
4.5
My hunch is that party clowns isnt the subject that theatrical documentaries (or non fiction) films are made of. Movie Views
0.5
The Friedman videos are the saddest form of reality TV, and theyre horribly fascinating. Charlotte
3.8
Surprise after surprise unravels, changing our take on the whole situation. Arizona Daily Star
3.0
There remains a frutrating gulf between the fascinating nature of this story and the skillfulness of Jareckis filmmaking but the potency of the home v .. Entertainment Today
4.5
Ranks among the most harrowing and heartbreaking films ever made about the destruction of an American family. Dallas Observer
4.4
Capturing the Friedmans is the type of film that begs to be discussed once the house lights come up. Lawrence Journal-World
3.0
Manages to be a mystery, a thriller and a family melodrama, all rolled into one well made and exceedingly disturbing documentary. Journal News (Westchester, ..
4.5
Its compelling as hell, and its a glimpse into the personal hell of a family torn apart by ugly acts. Cinerina
4.4
Even if the ultimate truth remains elusive, one thing about this gripping documentary is certain: Youll never forget the Friedmans.
2.0
one of the most compelling examples of documentary filmmaking ever produced Romantic Movies About
4.5
Capturing the Friedmans succeeds into turning us into rubberneckers, ashamed we are witnessing this tragedy but unable to turn away. Dm Register
1.5
inspires in the viewer something which was conspicuously absent from the original trial reasonable doubt. Movie Gazette
5.0
As an investigation into the psychology and processes of witch hunts, Capturing the Friedmans is one of the most valuable film documents weve had sinc ..
2.5
Not convincingly redeemed by any ultimate meaning, the film remains essentially a car wreck by the side of the road that we compulsively gawk at as we .. Off Off Off
4.5
A different kind of horror is portrayed in Capturing the Friedmans the disintegration of a family after the father secret life is exposed.
4.5
brilliantly constructed, parceling out both its narrative arc and its tidbits of shocking new information with perceptive cunning Cinemonkey
4.5
What seemed scandalous and groundbreaking in 1963, however, often feels tame and fetishizing today. Slant Magazine
4.5
Grown men and women, in broad daylight and friendly company, would not lightly name some of the worst terrors of our world.
4.5
When crazy families manage to celebrate connections that endure despite being scrubbed raw of any artifice, its worth crying about. Brooklyn Rail



See Where to Watch Capturing the Friedmans