Garbo: The Spy 2009

Rachel Saltz, New York Times: Edmon Roch has a great story to tell in "Garbo the Spy," and he recounts it with the flair of a Hollywood spy movie: "Garbo" is dramatic, entertaining, even funny in parts. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: The jarring juxtapositions only heighten the enigmatic air of the film's subject; even when he's right in front of us, he seems to be plotting his next wily act. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: Garbo: The Spy can only suggest who Garcia really was, and why he took it upon himself to fell a tyrant. But even without the fine psychological shading, Garcia's story is a doozy. Read more

Cliff Doerksen, Chicago Reader: Edmon Roch spins a zippy yarn of Pujol's improbable exploits from archival footage, talking heads, and clips from classic espionage dramas. Read more

John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter: Doc's incredible tale of WWII espionage would likely work better as a feature film. Read more

Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: Director Edmon Roch makes some smart conceptual choices that honor his subject's self-invention and mystery. Read more

Mark Jenkins, NPR: Pulling Garbo's story from Roch's film requires considerable effort. The director takes a cinema verite approach to historical material, which never works, and forgoes narration. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Fascinating though it is, the movie is thin on historical materials. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: An engrossing documentary that is itself largely a work of the director's imagination. Read more

G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle: How does one make a documentary about a cipher? In "Garbo the Spy," Roch solves that problem, and magnificently so. Read more

Karina Longworth, Village Voice: Some of this footage feels like filler, but Roch's concept is strong: He's creating a dialogue between the fictions Pujol created to help win the war and the fictions Hollywood created to memorialize that victory. Read more