71
Metascore
25 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanThe Brink is an impeccably crafted verité ramble — an engaging and enraging, disturbing and highly revealing movie.
- 87TheWrapTodd GilchristTheWrapTodd GilchristKlayman, an increasingly skilled observer as a documentarian, occasionally succumbs to her own curiosity, or maybe incredulity, to ask him a question about these comments, or positions, but mostly, her quiet, unobtrusive gaze exposes his flaws without requiring interjection.
- 75Slant MagazineChris BarsantiSlant MagazineChris BarsantiAlison Klayman’s fly-on-the-wall documentary cuts Trump’s Rasputin down to size but doesn’t completely dismiss his power.
- 75The PlaylistAndrew BundyThe PlaylistAndrew BundyThe award-winning filmmaker is a one-woman crew on the project, and Klayman’s tenacious fly on the wall, verité approach illuminates the cynical limitations of Bannon’s cruel human worldview through day-to-day contradictions, far more than an interview-style documentary where such a figure is given a platform to talk in circles ever possibly could.
- 70New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriNew York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriSo what makes The Brink so different from just another platform for this professional troll? Though Klayman sticks to a largely vérité approach of following her subject around and observing his various interactions, she also provides important context.
- 63Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MoorePerhaps its going to take two documentaries to plumb the depths of Bannon’s persona, what drives this frump who rails against elites even as he’s serving their purposes so well. Klayman’s has an incomplete yet polished feel to it. There’s too much we don’t find out.
- 50The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThe A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThe inherent risk of this vérité approach is that your subject won’t prove to be all that fascinating, and The Brink, while far more openly critical of Bannon than "American Dharma," ultimately offers little justification for spending an hour and a half in his company.
- 33The Film StageVikram MurthiThe Film StageVikram MurthiThe vast majority of the people watching The Brink have their minds made up about Bannon and will not be swayed by his flamboyant rhetoric. At the same time, it’s difficult to pinpoint what exactly Klayman accomplishes with her film beyond a mere political horror show one can safely view from behind proverbial Plexiglas.
- 30The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeThe Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeThis Bannon is a snooze, occasionally making a wry aside but nearly never saying anything unusually smart or new. ... It's hard to see what ordinary viewers at any point on the political spectrum will gain from this particular status report.