Synopsis
This feature-length documentary explores the life of singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen as seen through the prism of his internationally renowned hymn, Hallelujah.
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Cast
- Leonard CohenSelf
- Larry SlomanSelf
- Adrienne ClarksonSelf
- Judy CollinsSelf
- Clive DavisSelf
- John LissauerSelf
- Nancy BacalSelf
- Rabbi Mordecai FinleySelf
- Sharon RobinsonSelf
- Glen HansardSelf
Recommendations
- 90
The New York Times
The documentary’s account of the song’s fate, indebted to Alan Light’s book “The Holy or the Broken,” is a fascinating study in the mechanics and metaphysics of pop-culture memory. - 80
TheWrap
Does the film explain “Hallelujah?” Of course not – the song stubbornly resists explanation, because it’s so many different things and because there’s a beautiful mystery at its heart. Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song is smart enough to embrace that mystery and that beauty, and to know that there’s far more to Cohen than can be summed up in four, or seven, or even 150 verses. - 75
Movie Nation
Narrowing the focus to this song elevates the film and its subject, and makes a fascinating window into one creative life, lived in curiosity, looking for answers and groping — for seven years — just to come up with a song that explains it all. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
If Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song is nourishing only to a certain point, there’s plenty of Leonard Cohen scholarship out there. - 67
The Playlist
Gellar and Goldfine manage the tone expertly, inserting little jolts of humor to keep things from getting too reverent. - 60
The Guardian
Hallelujah is one for the fans, thorough and informative, like a set of cinematic liner notes, largely content to marvel at the majesty of its subject and the vibrant afterlife of his work. - 60
Screen Daily
This is filmmaking which echoes Cohen’s music style – it’s contemplative, searching and stripped back, but it can also be somewhat navel gazing, ponderous and very slow. - 60
Rolling Stone
Hallelujah isn’t a definitive, life-spanning doc on Cohen’s life, nor does it claim to be, but the tale of “Hallelujah” serves as a metaphor for Cohen’s life.
