We here at Chelsea can stop holding our breath - Alex Gibney's latest documentary Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Elliot Spitzer hit US theaters today, and the reviews are starting to pour in! Below, a sampling of some of our favorites:
In The New York Times Manohla Dargis writes:
For Mr. Gibney, the juiciest parts of this story weren’t the explicit, sometimes banal details, like Mr. Spitzer’s famous black socks. No, the good stuff, as far as Mr. Gibney’s movie and Mr. Elkind’s book theorize, involves the power brokers who — enraged by Mr. Spitzer’s activism as attorney general, specifically in his hard-charging capacity as the Sheriff of Wall Street — might have had something to do with his downfall.
Variety has this to say:
Gibney is characteristically relentless in his research and interviewing...For all the information here, Gibney is unusual among investigative documentarians in that he never forgets he's making cinema. The shooting of interviews via multiple cameras by d.p. Maryse Alberti, particularly when Gibney is grilling the penitent Spitzer, is effective and striking."
The Washington Post raves that Client 9 is a "gripping portrait of a modern political hit..."
...and, naturally,The Village Voice was a bit more blunt:
The prolific documentarian -- Client 9 is Gibney's fourth film this year -- makes a persuasive case that the former governor may have been brought down not just by his penis, but by his deep-pocketed enemies.
We couldn't be more excited for Alex and Client 9, but don't just take our word for it -- get out there and see it for yourselves!