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The Death and Life of John F. Donovan

Play trailer 2:50 Poster for The Death and Life of John F. Donovan R 2019 2h 3m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
19% Tomatometer 32 Reviews 54% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
A young actor reminisces about a dead American TV star and the correspondence they shared.
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The Death and Life of John F. Donovan

The Death and Life of John F. Donovan

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Critics Consensus

The Death and Life of John F. Donovan finds writer-director Xavier Dolan flailing at profundity with a technically assured drama that never makes sense of its own ideas.

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Critics Reviews

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Jeannette Catsoulis New York Times 12/12/2019
From its contrived structure to its forced speechifying, this story... never acquires the emotional potency or coherence its themes demand. Go to Full Review
Mike D'Angelo AV Club 12/11/2019
C-
In any case, what remains of John F. Donovan is a barely coherent mess, and so eager for your approval that it's hard to feel anything but sorry for it. Go to Full Review
Peter Debruge Variety 09/13/2018
A work of stunning technique eclipsed by its increasingly jaw-dropping solipsism... Go to Full Review
Ben Turner The Pink Lens 09/01/2021
2/5
Nothing but a prestige piece for a fictional character with inexplicable iconoclasm and half-baked coming-of-age schmaltz that tries really hard - and fails - to pluck at the heart strings. This is a fairly major misfire for Dolan. Go to Full Review
Jason Adams My New Plaid Pants 07/14/2021
Man this thing flounders. My only thought at its end was what, pray tell, was the point of all this? Go to Full Review
Luke Gorham In Review Online 07/29/2020
These moments lead us to Dolan the pedant, whose explicit articulation of ideas obscures a career-long attention to character and form. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Sergio A @Sergio83 Mar 30 Despite being a fan of Xavier Dolan, it’s almost painful to see how much emphasis was placed on visual style, wasting the talent of brilliant actors in a storyline that tries to evoke emotion but ultimately makes no sense. Even the music feels pretentious, there are dramatic scenes paired with music that belongs in a comedy. There’s no real connection. See more John B 07/14/2023 I thought it was ok overall as the story started out interesting, but never really seemed to lead anywhere with the characters and by the end of it, I still wasn't really sure who John Donovan was. See more jelisije j @jjosifovic 10/14/2022 The life and death of a closet gay book writer celebrity and the young boy who tells his tale of the man who gave him the courage to be himself. See more stewart m 06/09/2022 Lots of really good actors trying to make a schmaltzy script work. Cringeworthy at times. See more 11/16/2021 The film tried too hard to be profound - and instead was simply boring. See more 11/14/2021 Splendid film and acting. It may be difficult to understand for those simple-minded people who don't get the underneath details and messages from the film, so it doesn't really surprise me those people got frustrated and talked bad about it, also, being an unexpected gay story, it could have been an unwanted thing for those homophobic people out there. See more Read all reviews
The Death and Life of John F. Donovan

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Movie Info

Synopsis A young actor reminisces about a dead American TV star and the correspondence they shared.
Director
Xavier Dolan
Producer
Xavier Dolan, Nancy Grant, Joe Iacono, Lyse Lafontaine
Screenwriter
Xavier Dolan, Jacob Tierney
Distributor
Momentum Pictures
Production Co
Warp Films, Lyla Films
Rating
R (Some Sexual Material|Language Throughout)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Dec 13, 2019, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 13, 2019
Runtime
2h 3m
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