It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley: reviews

What the critics say average 7.2 from 26 outlets

• 9.1 Original-CinKaren Gordon It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley is a reminder of the beauty of what he was looking for, and why his loss still reverberates so many years after his death. Read
• 9.0 VarietyOwen Gleiberman I defy you to see “It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley” and not fall in love with Jeff Buckley’s voice. By the time the film is over, you want to find a way to go back and rescue him to let him live the life he should have. Read
• 9.0 Los Angeles TimesRobert Abele “It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley” is a repudiating of the typical narrative of inescapable fate, instead pursuing the richness of a gifted artist’s ups and downs. Director Amy Berg would rather us see Buckley as he was in the world instead of some conveniently doom-laden figure. Read
• 8.3 IndiewireHarrison Richlin Every clip of Buckley performing lifts the film off the ground, highlighting how his talents often felt otherworldly. Read
• 8.0 Rolling StoneDavid Fear Buckley hasn’t had a million portraits sketched of him, much less to this degree. The singularity of It’s Never Over, along with the access and the candor, makes up for a lot here. Read
• 8.0 NMEMatthew Turner Apart from the occasional prickly moment of sadness, It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley is largely celebratory. Read
• 8.0 The GuardianPeter Bradshaw She uses Jeff’s answering machine messages and archive 90s material, including the unmistakable, moody black-and-white MTV footage, to tell a very sad story with sympathy and urgency. Read
• 8.0 Sight and SoundThomas Hobbs The reason Amy Berg’s documentary It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley is such a triumph is that it detaches Jeff Buckley from the legends, instead showing the free-spirited man behind the music. Read
• 8.0 The WrapMatthew Creith “It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley” doesn’t reinvent the documentary genre, but it does offer a unique perspective on the varying music of the 1990s, an experimental time where lonely artists like Buckley could buck the system and create a new brand of music under the guise of major labels like Columbia. Read
• 8.0 Otros CinesDiego Batlle It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley is a beautiful, painful portrait, broad and wide-ranging (34 songs are heard and there's plenty of unseen family and artistic archive material). Probably the most complete one about someone who by now has reached legendary status. Read
• 7.5 The Film StageDan Mecca Amy Berg’s It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley is an impressive archival document as well as a celebration of the life of a tortured artist. Read
• 7.5 Roger EbertBrian Tallerico It’s a deeply personal film, a life story told by the people who knew and loved Jeff. It hums with the emotion and vibrancy of Buckley’s music. Read
• 7.5 Baltimore MagazineMax Weiss It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley, is a moving, if somewhat standard documentary featuring archival interviews with Buckley himself, lots of captivating footage of Buckley singing and recording, and a good number of intimate photos and recordings. Read
• 7.0 The Hollywood ReporterDavid Rooney It’s Never Over might not be the Buckley bio everyone needs, but it’s a stirring tribute made with a lot of heart. Read
• 7.0 New York TimesBrandon Yu Most artist documentaries attempt but rarely get to a true and palpable essence of their subjects, but it’s this sense of his earnestly tender nature, pieced together from loved ones and old archive interviews of Buckley, that leaves an impression. Read
• 7.0 Little White LiesClaire Biddles Using interviews with friends and collaborators alongside a rich cache of archival footage, Berg showcases Buckley’s complex personality, and goes some way to argue for his music as radical and experimental. Read
• 7.0 MicropsiaDiego Lerer Without straying far from the norm of biographical documentaries about artists that tend to end up in a streaming platform's catalogue, It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley manages to portray the musician with sensitivity, affection and, above all, understanding of his personal and professional struggles, those of a talented, charismatic young man whose promising career was abruptly cut short when he still had so much to give. Read
• 6.7 The Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones An impression is ultimately all that coalesces in 105 minutes, and I wonder if that has something to do with how little the film engages with his songwriting. Read
• 6.3 Movie NationRoger Moore And it gives Buckley fans lots of the music and some of the details and color of the life that Buckley lived. Read
• 6.3 Slant MagazineChris Barsanti But while its keening, emotional sensibility presents a somewhat two-dimensional view of Buckley both as person and artist, It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley is still a resonant depiction of the gaping holes left by his untimely death. Read
• 6.3 The Washington PostTy Burr The movie is most welcome for its deep bench of performance footage, which brilliantly confirms the breadth of the singer’s influences and sound. Read
• 6.0 Time OutElizabeth Weitzman Fans, of course, will fiercely argue that Buckley has so much more to offer. And in the strongest compliment to Berg’s affectionate portrait, she makes a similarly convincing case, with ample and tender grace. Read
• 6.0 ColliderRoss Bonaime Berg’s documentary is at its strongest when it focuses on the musical legacy that Buckley was so concerned about that he would leave behind, and less so when it tries to delve deeper into who Buckley was as a person. Read
• 6.0 The Daily BeastJordan Hoffman Luckily, though, this is still a movie about Jeff Buckley, so the music is terrific, and the time capsule aspect of his early 1990s life in New York’s East Village will surely delight many. Read
• 5.8 The PlaylistChase Hutchinson “It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley” doesn’t do much of anything new with the documentary form, though still excavates plenty of interesting details within a familiar package. Read
• 5.0 Screen RantMary Kassel The documentary doesn't know who Jeff Buckley was. However, it might expose what we are desperate to get from him, long past the time he has anything left to give. Read