Magical Universe

Released Oct 31, 2014

1h 18m

Documentary

List

63%

8 Reviews

Tomatometer

70%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

The life and work of Al Carbee, an 80-year-old eccentric who spends his days photographing Barbie dolls.

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Audience Member

I highly recommend this documentary. You can find it on Netflix. A true original, and creative genius, who deserved all the admiration he received, and much more. Strange, unique, heartwarming, and heartbreaking all at once. Much of his art was destroyed after his death, when his home was seized by the bank. I truly hope more of his work still survives than what I feel has. I fear the world has lost a lot of something very unique and special. Regardless, a few glimpses of his work can be seen in this film (which you can find on Netflix). I promise you've never seen anything quite like this before.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/02/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Al Carbee was a wonderful weirdo, whose exquisite human-ness was deftly portrayed by film maker Jeremy Workman.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

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Jeremy Workman

Director

Nichole Alred

Actor

Jas Boothe

Actor

Rachel Engler

Actor

Hope Garcia

Actor

Denyse Gordon

Actor

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Michael Rechtshaffen

Los Angeles Times

"Magical Universe" is a tender portrait of the artist as a weirdly gifted, wildly prolific and strange man.

Nov 6, 2014

Full Review

Nicolas Rapold

New York Times

While Mr. Workman evidently respects Mr. Carbee's talent, he also frames his movie as a trite narrative about a kind of lovably odd acquaintance who comes out of his shell, without many incisive ideas about shaping or broadening the material.

Oct 30, 2014

Full Review

Nick McCarthy

Slant Magazine

To varying degrees of success, it attempts to prominently display Al Carbee's creations, yet keeps undermining his art in favor of investigating his skewed relationship to everyday realities.

Rated: 2.5/4

Oct 30, 2014

Full Review

Mike D'Angelo

The Dissolve

Carbee is such a benign, downright lovable presence, and so obviously tickled by the attention, that the film doesn't seem at all exploitative.

Rated: 3/5

Nov 3, 2014

Full Review

David Noh

Film Journal International

An odor of condescension and, eventually, exploitation inescapably emanates.

Oct 31, 2014

Full Review

Roger Moore

Tribune News Service

Obsessive artist, obsessed filmmaker. Worth all the obsession? Somewhat.

Rated: 2.5/4

Oct 28, 2014

Full Review

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Synopsis

The life and work of Al Carbee, an 80-year-old eccentric who spends his days photographing Barbie dolls.

Director: Jeremy Workman
Producer: Robert J. Lyons
Screenwriter: Jeremy Workman
Distributor: IFC Films
Production Co: Wheelhouse Creative
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 31, 2014, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 7, 2017
Runtime: 1h 18m

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