CineVue by Tom Duggins

This is a compelling and rich documentary that captivates and inspires in a similar fashion to some of his best work behind the camera.

RogerEbert.com

This cockeyed, oblique attempt to get closer to the worldview of David Lynch — one of American cinema’s finest oddities — is a compelling slice of cinephile inquiry.

RogerEbert.com by Christina Newland

This cockeyed, oblique attempt to get closer to the worldview of David Lynch — one of American cinema’s finest oddities — is a compelling slice of cinephile inquiry.

The Film Stage by Ed Frankl

There’s much to interest the Lynch fan here, but it also might be an unparalleled assessment of the artistic learning of a great American filmmaker.

The A.V. Club

Where The Art Life proves most informative to longtime Lynch fans is in its closely observed depiction of his creative process, glimpsed here as he putters around his home studio in the Hollywood Hills, his adorable toddler daughter in tow, creating paintings, sculptures, music, or whatever else strikes his fancy.

The A.V. Club by Sean O'Neal

Where The Art Life proves most informative to longtime Lynch fans is in its closely observed depiction of his creative process, glimpsed here as he putters around his home studio in the Hollywood Hills, his adorable toddler daughter in tow, creating paintings, sculptures, music, or whatever else strikes his fancy.

Time Out London by Tom Huddleston

This intimate documentary about the leftfield American filmmaker David Lynch is insightful and absorbing.

The Hollywood Reporter by Deborah Young

David Lynch, The Art Life will entrance the director’s fans and, who knows, inspire budding, out-of-the-box creators in an artistic coming-of-age tale, told in his own words and deliberate tones.

The Telegraph by Tim Robey

The Art Life shows us a lot about Lynch’s process, just in a different medium from the one that made him famous. His paintings are terrifying. One day, he just had the sudden urge to watch them move.

Empire by Andrew Lowry

Crucial for serious fans of Lynch, even if it may baffle newcomers. Since pretty much the only thing more interesting to lovers of his work is the enigmatic man behind it, there’s a lot for them to get their teeth into here.

The Playlist by Chris Evangelista

The Art Life is more concerned with the art rather than the life of Lynch, and this is the only true weakness of the doc. While informative to a certain degree, there’s always a sense that something is missing here. That there’s more to Lynch than the film cares to explore.

Slant Magazine by Chuck Bowen

Throughout the documentary, the undisguised regret and longing of David Lynch's reminiscences are often startling.

The New York Times by Ben Kenigsberg

Mostly, the documentary is a fond portrait of how one man nurtured his artistic temperament and risked being misunderstood — sometimes by his own family.

Variety by Guy Lodge

Nominally focused on the celebrated filmmaker’s lesser-known dabblings in fine art, The Art Life emerges as a more expansive study of Lynch’s creative impulses and preoccupations, as he relates first-hand the formative experiences that spurred and shaped a most unusual imagination.

Screen Daily by Fionnuala Halligan

Jon Nguyen’s carefully-calibrated ode to Lynch is in itself Lynchian, an essential picture for the director’s legion of fans.