Bukowski: Born into This 2003

Allison Benedikt, Chicago Tribune: Dullaghan's raw and defining documentary about the man -- and the myth. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: 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. Read more

Bob Longino, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: A great documentary about a fine writer and horrible human being. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: You come out of the theater wanting to beeline to a bookstore, grab a copy of Post Office or Love Is a Dog From Hell, and adjust your opinion as necessary. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: Accomplishes beautifully what it sets out to do, which is to reveal the man behind the crusty, hard-drinking, tough-talking persona Charles Bukowski so artfully crafted. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: The filmmaker knows when to shift the rhythm of his investigation. The authenticity of art is woven with the artifice of life. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: It reveals Bukowski to be a far grander artist than his bum's armor would suggest. Read more

Jane Sumner, Dallas Morning News: An amazing, worthy journey. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: The more the film labors to canonize the man and his work, the further it gets away from their pungent essence. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: Speaks for the idolaters without apology. Yet it maintains just enough level-headedness to show the darker, not-so-admirable aspects of the Bukowski legend. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Without straining, this definitive, deeply engrossing film biography makes a strong case for Charles Bukowski as a major American poet. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: How much was legend, how much was pose, how much was real? I think it was all real, and the documentary suggests as much. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: 'Poet laureate of the gutter,' ranter, sexual boaster, bane of the middle class and lifelong outcast, the writer cultivated a persona that begs for documentary treatment, and he gets a good one in Bukowski: Born Into This. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Time Out: Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: Read more

Mark Holcomb, Village Voice: Charles Bukowski, the bard of post-war L.A.'s working-class underbelly, was no ordinary cult writer, and John Dullaghan's thorough, compelling doc Bukowski: Born Into This does a credible job of showing why. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: It is wide-ranging, it is fair, it is thorough, and although it admires, it is also tough enough to condemn. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: A portrait of a sometimes surly, often foulmouthed, always brilliant artist that is at once humane, horrific, hilarious and deeply moving. Read more