The Brink (2019 film)

The Brink
Poster
Directed byAlison Klayman
Produced byAlison Klayman
Therese Guirgis
StarringSteve Bannon
CinematographyAlison Klayman
Edited byBrian Goetz
Marina Katz
Music byIlan Isakov
Dan Teicher
Release date
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Brink is a 2019 documentary film, directed by Alison Klayman. The film is produced by Marie Therese Guirgis, and Alison Klayman under the banner of AliKlay Productions, Claverie Films, and RYOT Films. The film stars Steve Bannon.[1]

Plot

The film follows Bannon from his latter days in the Trump administration to just after the 2018 midterms as he attempts to form a global populist movement with like-minded individuals such as Nigel Farage, Marine Le Pen, Jair Bolsonaro, Viktor Orban, Kent Ekeroth, Filip Dewinter,[2] and others.

Cast

Reception

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 84%, based on 103 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Brink won't change many minds about its subject, but it remains a compelling – if perhaps difficult to watch – look at a divisive ideological lightning rod."[3] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 71 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "Generally favorable reviews".[4]

New York Magazine's David Edelstein wrote that the film is "the year’s most urgent documentary — the one you need to see this week, not this year."[5] In his positive Variety review, Owen Glieberman wrote "The Brink is a far better and more penetrating film than Errol Morris’s Bannon portrait, American Dharma, which let Bannon bathe in his own aura." He also says "Bannon has a way of revealing himself when he thinks he’s not."[6]

David Fear of Rolling Stone wrote in his review "Portrait of a Political Charlatan in Winter": "The Brink, Alison Klayman’s insightful and often unnerving look at one of the most divisive figures in recent memory, isn’t a particularly fun or easy watch". He also says the director's "methodology feels like a combo of fly-on-the-wall and give-’em-enough-rope.".[7] A. O. Scott of The New York Times gave the film a Critic's Pick.[8]

References

  1. ^ "You Need to See the Steve Bannon Documentary The Brink". Vulture. 27 March 2019. Retrieved 2019-04-08.
  2. ^ Rep. Paul Gosar, Steve Bannon have dinner in London on YouTube Congressman Paul Gosar dines with Steve Bannon and several far-right European political figures in July 2018 footage from the movie "The Brink." Consulted on 30 January 2021
  3. ^ "The Brink (2019)", Rotten Tomatoes, Fandango, retrieved 2021-10-10
  4. ^ The Brink, Metacritic, retrieved 2019-08-08
  5. ^ Edelstein, David (2019-03-27). "Movie Review: Steve Bannon Documentary The Brink (2019)". Vulture.com. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
  6. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (16 February 2019). "Sundance Film Review: 'The Brink'". Variety.
  7. ^ Fear, David (2019-03-29). "'The Brink' Review: Portrait of a Political Charlatan in Winter". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2019-04-08.
  8. ^ Scott, A. O. (2019-03-27). "'The Brink' Review: Considering the Unlikely Charm of Stephen Bannon". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-04-08.