Patti Smith: Dream of Life 2008

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: A lovely, drifty first feature that feels less like a documentary and more like an act of rapturous devotion. Read more

Sara Cardace, New York Magazine/Vulture: Steven Sebring's gorgeous, up-close-and-personal doc about the legendary rocker is both a journey into Smith's storied past and a portrait of her life today. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: The film never penetrates beyond how Smith chooses to define herself. And the paltry amount of live performances is a crime. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: There's a note of mourning in this otherwise celebratory film -- for punk rock, for New York, for reality, for a time when popular music was animated by something other than money. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Even the crudest punk rocker learned three chords (Smith brags of having five) before they plugged in an amp. Steven Sebring would have done better to have had a few lessons in editing and structure before picking up his camera. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Few documentaries about living artists get as deep into their subject's brain and heart as this one about the rock priestess and poetess. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: I imagine you could call Dream of Life a loving meditation on a one-of-a-kind performer. And you don't have to be a Smith fan (I am one, by the way) to enjoy. Read more

Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer: That spirit of encountering the world with undying artistic curiosity -- and without a plan -- informs Dream of Life, a drifting portrait of Smith. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Frequently beautiful and intermittently haunting. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: If you don't already own "Horses," this movie will make you want to go out and buy it. You'll also want to start surfing the Internet to fill in the blanks that Dream of Life fails to include. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Dream of Life barely hints at the transformational energy that Smith exudes in person, but it does paint a portrait of a defiantly creative life. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Patti Smith: Dream of Life, fashion photographer Steven Sebring's impressionistic study of the most influential of punk poets, disarms and charms with its honesty. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: The opportunity to introduce newbies to a serious music-world icon -- and her significance -- feels squandered. Read more

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: For all its transient black-and-white beauties, denies its subject the sort of solid context that would reveal the scale of her achievements. A patchy, frustrating, though loving tribute. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: The titular rocker-poet gets a suitable portrait in Steven Sebring's Patti Smith: Dream of Life, which runs radically against the grain of American-made pop music docs. Read more

Camille Dodero, Village Voice: Problem is, there's nary a hint of context, even with biographic essentials. Read more