Paul Goodman Changed My Life

Released Oct 19, 2011

1h 29m

Documentary

Biography

Drama

List

95%

Tomatometer

20 Reviews

58%

Audience Score

250+ Ratings

The life and work of the philosopher.

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Stanley Kauffmann

The New Republic

It is generally pungent and enlightening.

Jun 19, 2013

Full Review

Andrea Gronvall

Chicago Reader

In this heady documentary, TV footage of left-wing social critic Paul Goodman being interviewed by conservative host William F. Buckley Jr. in 1966 makes one realize how low public discourse in America has sunk since then.

Jan 6, 2012

Full Review

Ty Burr

Boston Globe

As documentaries go, it's an able introduction that doesn't make its subject nearly as relevant to our current discontents as it could.

Rated: 2/4

Jan 3, 2012

Full Review

Sarah Boslaugh

Playback:stl

Paul Goodman Changed My Life, a new documentary by Jonathan Lee, captures Goodman's ubiquitousness, as well as the fashionable intellectual bohemianism of the period...

Rated: 6/10

May 14, 2012

Full Review

Jim Slotek

Jam! Movies

But more remarkable than the accolades of his admirers is the (sometimes grudging) respect shown by his opponents and antagonists.

Rated: 3.5/5

Dec 9, 2011

Full Review

Norman Wilner

NOW Toronto

Lee aims to revive Goodman's legacy, using archival footage and thoughtful interviews with surviving friends and relations to create a portrait of a man who was quite literally too complicated for his times.

Rated: 4/5

Dec 9, 2011

Full Review

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Audience Member

Boring film poor waste of money rubbish film and should never have been made garbage and trash

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

Audience Member

An interesting documentary about a man I'd never heard of. Paul Goodman was a courageous, self-defeating intellectual, and our present times need more people like him.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Most folks, myself included, had no idea who Paul Goodman was, or his remarkable influence on contemporary social thinking. His major opus "Growing Up Absurd" is considered to be one of the most influential books of the counterculture generation at the time of the riots against the Vietnam war and the huge demonstrations which were organized. A poet, essayist, psychotherapist and on top of that.... a bisexual. This cerebral portrait is insightful and deep -- definitely not for the mainstream moviegoer. I recommend this film for serious thinkers, social historians and up and coming revolutionaries! Bravo!

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Interesting man, similar movie to "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson" (2007). One of the inventors of "The Sixties" along with Jack Kennedy, etc.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Goodman is a social commentator that I wasn't particularly knowledgeable about. He certainly played second fiddle to the Beat Generation and then later by Chomsky. I feel grateful for this film as a result. Goodman is certainly an intriguing guy and the film makers give him his adequate due.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

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Jonathan Lee

Director

Jonathan Lee

Producer

Kimberly Reed

Producer

Miriam Cutler

Original Music

Ben Shapiro

Cinematographer

Kimberly Reed

Film Editing

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Synopsis

The life and work of the philosopher.

Director: Jonathan Lee
Distributor: Zeitgeist
Genre: Documentary, Biography, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 19, 2011, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 29, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $34.6K
Runtime: 1h 29m

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