Bukowski: Born into This (2002)
Average Rating: 7.3/10
Reviews Counted: 48
Fresh: 40 | Rotten: 8
A thoroughly engrossing documentary examining the life of talented but troubled writer Charles Bukowski.
Average Rating: 7.7/10
Critic Reviews: 18
Fresh: 17 | Rotten: 1
A thoroughly engrossing documentary examining the life of talented but troubled writer Charles Bukowski.
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Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 2,760
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Movie Info
Advertising writer John Dullaghan makes his feature-length directorial debut with the documentary Bukowski: Born Into This. The infamous poet, novelist, and screenwriter Charles Bukowski has made a legacy of writing about hard living in a unique prose style. His work paralleled his lifestyle, leading to the autobiographical novels Women, Hollywood, and Post Office. This documentary investigates his life through archival clips, interviews, and footage of the man himself. He appears at a public
Jan 18, 2003 Wide
Mar 21, 2006
$81.7k
Magnolia Pictures
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Cast
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Charles Bukowski
Himself -
Bono
Himself -
Harry Dean Stanton
Himself -
Sean Penn
Himself
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All Critics (56) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (40) | Rotten (8) | DVD (6)
An amazing, worthy journey.
Top CriticProvides an overview of Bukowski's work and allows us to gaze into the soul of a man who built a fortress of toughness around his vulnerable core.
The filmmaker knows when to shift the rhythm of his investigation. The authenticity of art is woven with the artifice of life.
Over a period of seven years, Dullaghan interviewed hundreds of people who knew or were affected by Bukowski. The result is both wide-ranging and intimate.
How much was legend, how much was pose, how much was real? I think it was all real, and the documentary suggests as much.
Dullaghan's raw and defining documentary about the man -- and the myth.
We witness Bukowski warts and all in his worst, in his best, and at his most violent--and we still love him for it.
This thorough documentary is essential for the poet's fans.
there is plenty of conflict to be found in the Bukowski's life and work, yet little of it makes its way into Born into This
[Bukowski] is never seen in less than fighting spirit or formidable form throughout the documentary Bukowski: Born into This.
Loving tribute to an American original
Dullaghan uncovers the human being behind the myth, thanks again to old footage.
Born Into This, its title taken from one of his poems, is a remarkable movie, because, like Crumb or even American Splendor, it adores the very people most of us might ignore if they passed us on the street.
You get to see more of the down side of the man than the genius of his work, it almost falls into that 'too much information' category.
a loving tribute to a writer, his craft and, above all, the idea of living and dying by one's own creed
Bukowski would be better served by a critical examination of his life, one which gets past the sentimental façade of an artist who played the roué to keep from tasting the bitterness (as Stephen Crane once put it) of his own heart.
Has the right, Bukowskian approach: Just tell it, just show it, no fancy dancing.
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