Herb and Dorothy Reviews
Top CriticYou can't hate the film anymore than you can hate Herb and Dorothy. But this is lazy work.
Sasaki balances her subjects' yarns with insights into the cultural moment that shaped them and vice-versa, in particular the shift from abstract expressionism to the sparer gestures of minimalist and conceptual art.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Herb and Dorothy, a documentary by Megumi Sasaki, grows on you just as its subjects do.
Boxoffice Magazine
Herb and Dorothy certainly proves there's more than one way to be an art collector. It just doesn't probe deeply enough and ask thorny questions about the nature of collecting and the nature of art, and how they relate to one another.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Former journalist Megumi Sasaki's warmhearted celebration of these adorable do-gooders cements their significance to the art world and introduces them to the rest of us.
NYC Movie Guru
A fascinating, warm and delightfully charming documentary that finds just the right balance between entertaining the audience and provoking them intellectually.
Full Review
| Original Score: 8.75/10
Briskly and engagingly cinematic. ... [Their compulsive collecting seems] at once crazy, smart, generous and enormously endearing.
Full Review
| Original Score: 7.5/10
As they share their views of modern art, director Megumi Sasaki's film feels like a cozy visit with neighbors whose insights are priceless.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
New York Press
Ultimately, the tale is inspiring: Why can't we all be like the Vogels and become great collectors?
culturevulture.net
As the film progresses, we become captivated by the enchanted existence [Herb and Dorothy Vogel] have made for themselves.
Shared Darkness
A solid and engaging documentary that shows the chasm between art and those that are removed, for various reasons, from its creation and most readily accessible exhibition to be a largely artificial construct.
Full Review
| Original Score: B
Cinema em Cena
A história da paixão incontrolável do casal Vogel por arte contemporânea é algo não só tocante, mas educativo.
| Original Score: 4/5
Megumi Sasaki's convivial Herb and Dorothy is both a double-portrait of the diminutive couple, now in their 90s and 80s, and a sketch of the art, and artists, collected by these vest-pocket Rockefellers.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
It's impossible to leave this movie believing that the Vogels are weirdos or naifs. A wealth of artists and curators testify to their strong eye, unwavering enthusiasm, and clear judgment.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
The Vogels [Herb and Dorothy], sitting in their same old apartment, overflowing as ever, make for charming company.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
The movie gives us an eyeful, but the unexamined irony is that the nice old couple can't sell the rest of us on why it's good.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Slant Magazine
First-time filmmaker Megumi Sasaki's documentary Herb & Dorothy is as simple and straightforward as the subjects of its title.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
This easygoing movie fully captures the couple's charm and offers a unique look at the '60s and '70s New York art scene.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Boston Phoenix
As director Megumi Sasaki's leisurely yet absorbing documentary tells it, the crusty postman and the mild librarian emerged as the Fred and Ethel Mertz of modernism, championing the early careers of such artists as Sol LeWitt and Christo.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Herb & Dorothy describes and amply illustrates the extraordinary saga of the Vogels, who double-handedly built one of the most important collections of Minimalist and Conceptual Art in history with their modest salaries.
