The Woodmans Reviews

It's impossible to listen to Francesca's parents, deadly serious about art as a higher calling, without feeling both saddened and disturbed.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

By the time it ends, however, it has applied enough fine brush strokes to create a subtle and vaguely disturbing portrait of a dysfunctional family of artists.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5

The Woodmans tells the compelling, if slightly disturbing, story of a family coming to grips with love, ego, resentment and loss.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4

Willis provides no easy answers and points no fingers, but the search proves fascinating.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

Woodman's black-and-white photographs, many of them self-portraits, convey a haunting sense of isolation; of something forever lost from the empty, almost decaying rooms in which she drapes herself.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

Willis' careful balancing act between portraying a unique family unit and the peculiarities of genius winds up making The Woodmans disturbing in an unexpected way.

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The Woodmans isn't out to demonize Francesca's upbringing or to play the blame game for her untimely death.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

A journeyman-like investigation into the life and legacy of photographer Francesca Woodman, C. Scott Willis' The Woodmans is a conventional talking-heads-and-clips documentary.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5

a movie that burrows into questions about how our talents are molded, how artistic promise can lead to crippling loneliness, and the burden of great expectations.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5

Willis works to turn The Woodmans into an existential mystery, through a soundtrack full of moody vibes, interviews shot in tight close-ups, and the floating words from Francesca's diaries that Willis inserts as a kind of answer from beyond the grave.

Full Review | Original Score: B

An indelible group portrait of a family of artists.

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Though compelling, it is a complicated and difficult experience to watch The Woodmans.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

Unsettling, evocative tale of an artistic yet dysfunctional family.

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Making art is more than a pastime, a hobby or even a career, as shown in the emotional family profile The Woodmans.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

If its message can be boiled down to one sentence, it is George's stoic observation: "There is a psychic risk in being an artist."

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5

A thought-provoking look at one troubled family of artists and their need to express themselves.

Full Review | Original Score: B

A haunting study in family dynamics.

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This intriguing docu, winner at the 2010 Tribeca Film Fest, offers a poignant look at the haunting art of Francesca Woodman by placing her life and work in the broader contexts of her family (her parents are artists) and NY art world.

Full Review | Original Score: B+