Algren

Released Oct 1, 2021

1h 25m

Documentary

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100%

5 Reviews

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Exploding onto the national literary scene in 1950 after winning the first-ever National Book Award for "The Man with the Golden Arm," Nelson Algren defined post-World War II American urban fiction with his gritty, brilliant depiction of Chicago and its working class. From Ernest Hemingway to Kurt Vonnegut, Frank Sinatra to Simone de Beauvoir, Algren influenced an entire creative class with his groundbreaking work. Featuring never-before-seen archival footage, newly uncovered audio recordings and his own rarely seen personal photo collages, ALGREN charts the rise and fall of a man whose transgressions, compassion and thirst for justice pushed him to become a tireless champion of America's underclass and one of the 20th century's most consequential literary voices.

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Peter Sobczynski

RogerEbert.com

Algren will serve well as an introduction to the man and his legacy to newcomers.

Rated: 3/4

Oct 1, 2021

Full Review

Kelly Vance

East Bay Express

Dig in, it's the real Chicago.

Jan 13, 2022

Full Review

Patrick McDonald

HollywoodChicago.com

Using a unique cinema palette, there is a magic to Algren's life story that can't seem to exist in lives today & this doc captures it in all its powerful glory and heartache.

Rated: 4.5/5

Oct 22, 2021

Full Review

Neely Swanson

Easy Reader (California)

Caplan does an excellent job telling the narrative of Algren's life.

Sep 29, 2021

Full Review

Raquel Stecher

Quelle Movies

a compelling documentary about a literary genius who became a voice for America's disenfranchised.

Sep 26, 2021

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Ravenswood R

An amateurish documentary with a good subject and great archive photos and film footage. It is assembled paint-by-number, but very uneven and not edited well. Visuals fly by too quick in short barrages, interviews are with unidentified, random people or people who have no reason to be in it. Billy Corgan? What? Bad choices like middling actors doing voices with odd music playing, embarrassingly bad screen titles and graphics, and not providing any info on those being interviewed. I imagine the production had a fairly low budget and was met with many obstacles. It shows, and it needed more work to be completed properly, but at least for the sake of learning a bit about Nelson Algren they stuck it out and got it done. Great archive footage throughout, but you will need to pause and go back a lot because of the problems with pacing and timing.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

07/22/23

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Michael Caplan

Director

Russell Banks

Self

Billy Corgan

Self

Denise DeClue

Self

Philip Kaufman

Self

William Friedkin

Self

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Synopsis

Exploding onto the national literary scene in 1950 after winning the first-ever National Book Award for "The Man with the Golden Arm," Nelson Algren defined post-World War II American urban fiction with his gritty, brilliant depiction of Chicago and its working class. From Ernest Hemingway to Kurt Vonnegut, Frank Sinatra to Simone de Beauvoir, Algren influenced an entire creative class with his groundbreaking work. Featuring never-before-seen archival footage, newly uncovered audio recordings and his own rarely seen personal photo collages, ALGREN charts the rise and fall of a man whose transgressions, compassion and thirst for justice pushed him to become a tireless champion of America's underclass and one of the 20th century's most consequential literary voices.

Director: Michael Caplan
Producer: Michael Caplan, Stefan Sonnenfeld, Valerie Petrusson, Gail Sonnenfeld
Screenwriter: Michael Caplan
Distributor: First Run Features
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 1, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 17, 2022
Runtime: 1h 25m

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