--- title: "Capturing the Friedmans: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/capturing-the-friedmans/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/capturing-the-friedmans" critics_score: 73 critics_reviews: 12 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Capturing the Friedmans (2003): what the critics said Critics' score 73 from 12 reviews: 10 positive, 2 mixed, 0 negative. ## The AV Club — Scott Tobias Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 27 May 2003. The critic calls the documentary extraordinary and a disquieting meditation on the elusive nature of truth. They praise Jarecki's skillful integration of home-video footage with interviews to explore family dissolution and ambiguity. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/capturing-the-friedmans-1798198561) ## The New Yorker — David Denby Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 26 May 2003. The critic describes the documentary as an extraordinary meditation on perversion and truth and one of the most heartbreaking films ever made about an American family. He singles out its tact, dedication, respect for the mysteries of family life, and demonstration of the subjectivity of recollection through intercut interviews and home footage. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/06/02/in-the-basement) ## Empire — Adam Smith Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 9 April 2004. The critic praises the documentary as a unique and disturbing portrayal of a family imploding under allegations of abuse, captured through the family's own videos and interviews. It highlights the film's exploration of the elusiveness of truth, memory, and facts. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/capturing-friedmans-review/) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 9 April 2004. The critic calls Jarecki's documentary compelling and horrifying, praising its intimate study of family denial, transgression, and the difficulty of pinning down truth amid shame and hysteria. It highlights the extraordinary home-video archive as both a treasure trove and part of the family's dysfunction. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/arts/fridayreview/story/0,,1188240,00.html) ## Evening Standard — Will Self Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 10 April 2012. The review describes the film as an exceedingly peculiar and multi-award-winning documentary that examines a family's disintegration through home videos and interviews, evoking an eerie sensation of sifting through evidence. It notes the collective hysteria and the fragmented family dynamic. [Read the review](https://standard.co.uk/culture/film/capturing-the-clown-7380424.html) ## Screen Daily Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 5 February 2003. Festival review. An engrossing, troubling and profoundly ambiguous re-examination of a child molestation case that deserved its Sundance grand jury prize. Jarecki maintains an unsentimental distance while piecing together the human story and subverting notions of truth. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/capturing-the-friedmans/4012090.article) ## Sight and Sound — Xan Brooks Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). The film is a compelling documentary that mixes generations of home movies to portray a family in meltdown amid child abuse charges. It teases without overt judgment, influenced by Errol Morris, and leaves viewers with more questions than answers about truth and memory. [Read the review](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/924) ## The New York Times — Elvis Mitchell Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 30 May 2003. The critic calls the film a grim, watchable narrative about a family's decades-long tumble into shattering denial, lies and abuse. He praises its evenhanded and intelligent assembly of home movies and interviews that explore the American middle-class obsession with documenting daily life. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/30/movies/film-review-witness-to-a-family-s-slow-motion-collapse.html) ## Variety — Scott Foundas Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 26 January 2003. Festival review. The critic calls it a startling documentary that examines truth at odds with perception and the high price of privacy. He praises its tough, uncompromising approach, dense ambiguity, and the director's objective stance that forces viewers to ponder the events without easy judgments. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2003/film/awards/capturing-the-friedmans-3-1200543837/) ## Slant Magazine — Ed Gonzalez Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 16 May 2003. The critic views the film as two works: a riveting chronicle of family demise and a less successful look at conspiracy theories around abuse cases. They single out the strong use of archival footage while criticizing literal-minded editing and occasional loss of objectivity. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/capturing-the-friedmans/) ## Time Out — NB Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 7 September 2016. This disturbing and compelling documentary presents one side of the story through police evidence and confessions, another through the family's own obsessive home videos, and a third through later interviews. There is ultimately no way of knowing the full truth of the case. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/capturing-the-friedmans-2) ## Eye for Film — Trinity Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 23 August 2003. Festival review. The critic finds the documentary a moving, contradictory and masterful portrait of a dysfunctional family imploding under scandalous allegations. Jarecki's use of home movies and interviews effectively blurs perceptions of guilt and innocence, though the film's neutral stance slightly limits its emotional impact. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/capturing-the-friedmans-film-review-by-trinity) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/capturing-the-friedmans.md