The life of Orry-Kelly is a story that needed to be told, and Armstrong stocks up a lovingly rendered homage-cum-investigation with oodles of verve and panache.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Combining so many disparate strands — historical, contextual, personal and even gossipy — with the performative could have felt disjointed. But in Armstrong’s capable hands, it all comes together fairly seamlessly, providing a compelling portrait of Kelly’s noteworthy career.
The film overstays its welcome by punctuating his story with ill-advised dramatic fantasy sequences that are meant to illustrate the anguish of a gay man in mid-century America, but come across as heavy-handed and mean-spirited.
The Hollywood Reporter by Harry Windsor
A rollicking if somewhat ham-handed documentary about the life of costume designer Orry-Kelly.
The film’s charms exist in the performative elements contextualized amongst the film’s interviewees.
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
The clips Armstrong and her team have rounded up make us appreciate how, in a whole range of situations, costumes express character.