60
The New York Times by Ben Kenigsberg
Spiral is best in smaller-bore moments, showing how everyday lives are affected by prejudice.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
50
Los Angeles Times by Gary Goldstein
The startling spike in anti-Semitism over the last two decades is certainly a vast and vital topic for documentary exploration, but director Laura Fairrie’s Spiral proves a largely underwhelming look at an overwhelming problem.
63
The anecdotal, multi-narrative approach is useful in personalizing the phenomenon, but the movie still brought me up short. The approach also has liabilities. I wanted more context, more history.
60
The film simply examines the prejudice that’s standing right in front of it. It’s chilling, but it’s the tip of the iceberg.
30
Film Journal International by Simi Horwitz
Spiral is a classic example of diffuse, all-over-the-map storytelling that avoids addressing its fraught subject in any fresh way; indeed, the core topic often disappears from the narrative altogether.
40
Fairrie’s unfocused examination of anti-Semitism illuminates little.