74
Metascore
9 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The PlaylistDrew TaylorThe PlaylistDrew TaylorIn the end, it doesn't matter if you believe Alexandrovich's story that a $7 billion weapons system was ultimately the cause of the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown; what matters is that Alexandrovich believes it so completely. And through his eyes (which seem to bug out outside of his skull), the entire Russia/Ukraine relationship takes on a vivid, personal immediacy.
- 100Village VoiceChuck WilsonVillage VoiceChuck WilsonThe Russian Woodpecker is very much like Fedor himself — eccentric as hell, smart as a whip, and, at the end of the day, a heartbreaker.
- Gracia succeeds brilliantly in delivering a chilling warning about where Putin and his spooks might go next, by giving Fedor full licence to act the biblical prophet.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinThe Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinDirector Chad Gracia’s The Russian Woodpecker offers a wild ride through Ukrainian and Soviet history.
- 80VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyDeftly cramming a terrific amount of history, breaking news, personal drama, culture and context into a trim runtime, The Russian Woodpecker is surprisingly inventive, even buoyant in its presentation of several issues that could scarcely be more sobering.
- 75RogerEbert.comMatt FagerholmRogerEbert.comMatt FagerholmThe post-apocalyptic landscapes captured by the courageous lens of cinematographer Artem Ryzhykov are deeply chilling, especially when Alexandrovich stumbles upon a classroom littered with gas masks.
- 70Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinLos Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinThe documentary The Russian Woodpecker is provocative, spooky and just a little nutty.
- 60The New York TimesNicolas RapoldThe New York TimesNicolas RapoldWhatever the facts, Mr. Gracia’s messily structured film works best as a document of fear in today’s Ukraine and as a kind of ghost story about the Soviet Union.
- 58The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThe A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThe Russian Woodpecker is ostensibly an investigative documentary, but there’s precious little investigation; its primary subject, Fedor Alexandrovich, is peddling a hypothesis for which he offers no tangible evidence whatsoever.