The reviews are almost unanimous in their approval, and most of the praise goes the same way: to Fox Rich, whose presence and voice hold the film together, and to Garrett Bradley’s decision to fold two decades of her home videos into new black-and-white footage. Critics describe the result as lyrical, intimate and poetic, a portrait of a family living around a long prison sentence rather than a film about the prison system. The editing, which moves back and forth across the years, is singled out often.
The few reservations cluster in one place. The Playlist argues that the fixation on poetry comes at the cost of basic facts about the crime and the sentence, and HeyUGuys finds the short running time leaves the ideas underexplored. The Times is warmer but still calls it an arty memory piece. Otherwise the spread is narrow, with most critics landing at the same high mark.
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The Independent
5 October 2020 · ★★★★/4 · Mark Kennedy
100
The critic praises the unrushed, intimate documentary style that captures wasted time, loss, patience and an unjust system through the story of a woman fighting for her husband's release while raising their family. They single out the film's poetic, moving final moments and the central figure's formidable presence as highlights of terrific filmmaking.
Calls it a poignant and monumental portrait of mass incarceration in America, a profoundly moving story of hope captured through home video. Singles out the woman's 20-year fight to free her husband.
‘Time’ is a wrenching story of love and injustice and one of 2020’s great documentaries. It is an artful puzzle and hypnotic game of chronological hopscotch held together by Rich’s remarkable voice, with joy and success making the loss more acute.
The film is a beautiful and haunting documentary that reminds viewers there is a human being behind prison numbers, loved and missed. It enlists empathy while documenting the effects of a corrupt system on the Richardsons through home movies and present-day footage, refusing to be tragedy porn.
The critic praises Bradley’s intimate documentary as a powerful distillation of lives divided by incarceration, highlighting its kaleidoscopic structure and focus on the family left behind, particularly the resilience of Fox Rich and her sons.
Praises the concise and impressionistic account of love, waiting, and the fight to keep a family whole amid the justice system. Singles out the poetic details, black-and-white imagery, and the matriarchal fury of the central figure.
15 October 2020 · 5 out of 5 stars · Whelan Barzey
90*
The critic calls it a remarkable documentary delivering heart-rending candour about one family’s experiences with the US prison system, praising its intimate portrayal and message about the power of love and time.
Director Garrett Bradley combines vérité observation with 18 years of home videos to make a longitudinal study of incarceration’s effects on an American family. The cumulative impact will almost certainly rewire how Americans think about the prison-industrial complex, revealing how communities are worse off for ripping families apart.
Calls it an extraordinary documentary that folds together years of home-movie footage for a glimpse into activist Fox Rich’s fight. Singles out the collaboration with the family and the intensely personal details of love and loss.
Praises the oblique but morally forceful look at Black lives undone by the prison system. Singles out the home-video diaries that remind viewers that behind court procedures are actual lives existing in human time.
Finds it a lyrical documentary about a family coping with a long prison sentence on both sides of the bars. Singles out the achronological structure collapsing past and present and the beautifully shot meditation on time and emotional shifts.
The critic describes the film as a thought-provoking take on the impact of imprisonment on families and communities, highlighting its blend of poetic video diaries and contemporary footage. They single out the resilience of long-lasting love and Black female courage as the core strengths in this moving and angry documentary.
The film is an extraordinarily intimate, lyrical portrait of a family enduring the toll of long-term incarceration, using interwoven home movies and new footage in black and white to show a mother's resilience and the passage of time.
The documentary offers an arty, prismatic memory piece about a couple imprisoned after a robbery, focusing on the wife's determination and the family's life in the husband's absence through beautiful black-and-white footage and home videos.
The critic calls Garrett Bradley’s documentary a damning portrait of mass incarceration and modern slavery in America, focusing on Fox Rich’s 21-year fight to free her husband. It singles out the film’s examination of the human cost to families and the injustice of the prison system for praise.
The critic praises 'Time' as an elegant, artful, and poetic meditation on family and humanity rather than a straightforward issue film about incarceration. They single out the virtuoso editing that juxtaposes new footage with two decades of home movies for its emotional impact.
Praises Bradley’s direction for emphasizing the family's resilience and humanity, and highlights Fox Rich's emotional nudity and campaign against systemic racism.
The critic finds the documentary compelling and does what it sets out to do well, praising the use of footage to illustrate the cruelty of the justice system, but notes it doesn't delve deep enough into themes due to its short length.
Criticizes the film for being fixated on poetic elements at the expense of addressing key details about the crime and incarceration, leaving it uneven and incomplete.
Ordered by the weight we give each publication, then by score. Scores are normalised to 100; * means inferred from an unrated review. Summaries are ours, not quotations; follow the links for the reviews themselves. How we rate
