Critic Reviews

• Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

  Graceful and quietly inspiring.

• Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle

  Even with no traditional narrative, there are wonderful discoveries to be made in Wiseman's film, which is a nice complement to the experienced director's ballet-themed last feature, "La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet."

• Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

  I find Wiseman's anti-narrative vow of chastity off-putting; I like a story with my pictures.

• Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News

  Don't go to Boxing Gym expecting pugilistic melodrama about long-shot underdogs. There's not an ounce of fat or cliché in Frederick Wiseman's new documentary.

• Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

  For legendary documentarian Frederick Wiseman to follow La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet with a film set in a down-market Texas boxing gym seems unlikely -- until you see Boxing Gym, and how it and its subjects dance.

• Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

  Frederick Wiseman must drive certain nonfiction filmmakers crazy. He makes it look too easy.

• Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

  In a year filled with angry, sociopolitical documentaries, it's my favorite.

• Mike Scott, Times-Picayune

  Proves once and for all that documentary heavyweight Frederick Wiseman's mesmerizing fly-on-the-wall filmmaking style -- in addition to being endlessly compelling -- is also infinitely adaptable.

• Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion

  Of a piece with Wiseman's filmmaking philosophy, and fits snugly into the whole of his work, even if...it's a relatively minor example of it, at least in terms of length.

• Kimberley Jones, Austin Chronicle

  The soundscape, too, is endlessly fascinating, a layer cake of squeaks, grunts, gasps, and rattling chains that, combined, catches a rhythm that sounds an awful lot like song.

• James Verniere, Boston Herald

  The film, which as usual eschews voice-overs and soundtrack music, is a chorus of labored breathing, an unblinking, at times beautiful recording of real-life,

• Tom Meek, Boston Phoenix

  Wiseman records the rituals of repetition (speed bag and footwork) in poetic long shots that often have two pugilists side by side, each unaware of the other. The cadence is both primal and hypnotic.

• Nora Lee Mandel, Film-Forward.com

  [N]one of the boxing movie stereotypes -- Wiseman has found in Austin a very unusual boxing gym. . .for a kind of physical therapy. . .The lack of violence is emphasized.

• Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews

  Getting audiences outside the area of interest to "Boxing Gym" may be a tough sell, but anyone who appreciates the art of documentary filmmaking will be glad they bought. It's marvelous.

• Robin Clifford, Reeling Reviews

  Frederick Wiseman has been making documentary films for nearly half a century and the quality and character of his works have always shown through. Boxing Gym is no exception and he shows the grace and beauty of recreational boxing.

• Vadim Rizov, Boxoffice Magazine

  The film examines what violence looks like when it's a controlled outlet, as opposed to a spontaneous one.

• Stephanie Zacharek, Movieline

  If it's possible to make a completely gentle movie about boxing, Frederick Wiseman has done just that.

Read all 17 critic reviews