One would be hard pressed to find a more culturally critical cinematic work than Poitras' risky, revealing film Citizenfour.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Oct 21, 2020

So much is revealed by those leaks that it would be easy for Poitras to have buried us in data. But she lets the film unfold as a character study, with long silences and lingering close-ups as we watch Snowden come to terms...

Full Review | Aug 8, 2019

Citizenfour, I had to keep reminding myself, shows us history in the making. I had to keep telling myself what I was seeing was important because most of it is otherwise pretty dull.

Full Review | Mar 11, 2019

Watching this real-time whistleblowing is nothing short of unbelievable.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Dec 31, 2018

Poitras takes the facts at face value considering her source is an enemy of the state, but the revelations are no less reeling.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Dec 8, 2018

What seems most remarkable in that hotel room in Hong Kong is Snowden's freedom from anxiety.

Full Review | Nov 16, 2018

Laura Poitras took on a massive project when she set out to make CitizenFour, and she succeeds in capturing and unveiling this extraordinary moment in journalism that we, on the outside, never see.

Full Review | Nov 8, 2018

Citizenfour creates a powerful dystopia.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Aug 24, 2017

The profoundly personal cost of taking action is rendered explicit in the story of Edward Snowden.

Full Review | Aug 16, 2017

Poitras isn't there to question his motives or the rightness of his cause, she's there to bear witness. This film is her document on why his actions matter and what it cost Snowden.

Full Review | Nov 18, 2016

[1984] is looking less like fiction with each passing day.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 15, 2016

Yes, we should be concerned about what our government is up to, but we should also be skeptical of Citizenfour.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | May 22, 2016

This is film as activism, and documentary filmmaking as dissension.

Full Review | May 10, 2016

This is a brave, bold and important film.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Apr 26, 2016

For all the film's superficial slickness, it's a mess.

Full Review | Apr 6, 2016

As much as it resembles a conspiracy thriller in which data encryption is a survival tactic, Citizenfour must be considered, above all, a journalistic achievement.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 2, 2016

The most frightening aspect of the documentary is a suggestion that this is only the dawn of what's to come.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Feb 26, 2016

A risky and revelatory documentary weakened only by its awesome source.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 30, 2015

Although Snowden has been depicted by his detractors as a gutless, narcissistic traitor fleeing the law, the Edward Snowden I saw in this film is quite different. He is very intelligent and is aware of the cost of his actions to himself and others.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Nov 5, 2015

Bold docu explores Edward Snowden's controversial actions.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 15, 2015