''The Brink'' is a 2019 documentary film, directed by

Alison Klayman Alison Klayman (born 1984) is an American filmmaker and journalist best known for her award-winning 2012 documentary '' Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry''. Life and career Klayman grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from Brown University in 2006 wi ...

. The film is produced by Marie Therese Guirgis, and Alison Klayman under the banner of AliKlay Productions, Claverie Films, and RYOT Films. The film stars

Steve Bannon Stephen Kevin Bannon (born November 27, 1953) is an American media executive, political strategist, and former investment banker. He served as the White House's chief strategist for the first seven months of president Donald Trump's first ...

Plot

The film follows Bannon from his latter days in the Trump administration to just after the 2018 midterms as he attempts to form a global populist movement with like-minded individuals such as

Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage ( ; born 3 April 1964) is a British politician and broadcaster who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Clacton (UK Parliament constituency), Clacton and Leader of Reform UK since 20 ...

Marine Le Pen Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen (; born 5 August 1968) is a French lawyer and politician of the far-right National Rally, National Rally party (RN). She served as the party's president from 2011 to 2021, and ran for the French presidency in ...

Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and former military officer who served as the 38th president of Brazil from 2019 to 2023. He previously served as a member of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies (Brazil), Chamb ...

Viktor Orban The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

Kent Ekeroth Kent Alexander Ekeroth (born 11 September 1981) is a Swedish politician and economist, who represented the Sweden Democrats in the Riksdag from 2010 to 2018. Ekeroth served as the SD legal policy spokesman until 2012 and was the party's interna ...

Filip Dewinter Philip Michel Frans "Filip" Dewinter (born 11 September 1962) is a Belgian politician, journalist and commentator. He is one of the leading members of Vlaams Belang, a right-wing Flemish nationalist and secessionist political party. Family back ...

, and others.

Cast

Reception

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of , based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "''The Brink'' won't change many minds about its subject, but it remains a compelling – if perhaps difficult to watch – look at a divisive ideological lightning rod."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

, assigned the film a score of 71 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "Generally favorable reviews". ''

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Clay Felker and Milton Glaser in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'' a ...

''s David Edelstein wrote that the film is "the year’s most urgent documentary — the one you need to see this week, not this year." In his positive ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' review, Owen Glieberman wrote "''The Brink'' is a far better and more penetrating film than Errol Morris’s Bannon portrait, '' American Dharma'', which let Bannon bathe in his own aura." He also says "Bannon has a way of revealing himself when he thinks he’s not." David Fear of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' wrote in his review "Portrait of a Political Charlatan in Winter": "''The Brink'', Alison Klayman’s insightful and often unnerving look at one of the most divisive figures in recent memory, isn’t a particularly fun or easy watch". He also says the director's "methodology feels like a combo of fly-on-the-wall and give-’em-enough-rope.".

A. O. Scott Anthony Oliver Scott (born July 10, 1966) is an American journalist and cultural critic, known for his film and literary criticism. After starting his career at ''The New York Review of Books'', '' Variety'', and ''Slate'', he began writing film ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' gave the film a Critic's Pick.

References

External links

* * * * * 2019 films American documentary films Steve Bannon 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language documentary films {{2010s-documentary-film-stub