[A] powerful rock 'n' roll documentary...

Full Review | Oct 11, 2022

If Get Back has you pining for more music documentaries about influential bands of the '60s, this offers a more traditional band biography, with a more traditional running-time.

Full Review | Dec 10, 2021

Featuring new interviews with Clapton, Springsteen and Martin Scorsese, this gripping documentary charts the rise and fall of music's most anonymous trailblazers.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 17, 2021

Rarely seen footage and photographs in Once Were Brothers offer a fond memory of the beginnings of Americana music.

Full Review | Mar 9, 2021

Early on we see the guys, crammed into a small room, rip through a version of Up on Cripple Creek so transcendent it could only be played by musicians connecting on a spiritual level.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 31, 2021

Once Were Brothers will hold up as a respectful, enthralling and engaging look at the band who were simply The Band.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 17, 2020

The terrifyingly industrious Robertson effectively narrates the story and takes centre stage, which is probably right considering how central he was to the outfit.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 4, 2020

A little more investigative journalism would have given this documentary a more well-rounded variety of perspectives. Ultimately though, the music and talent of [Robbie] Robertson and The Band are the real attractions for this movie.

Full Review | Jul 14, 2020

The documentary has a focus that other nonfiction music bios lack.

Full Review | Jun 26, 2020

Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band is a loving tribute to its subjects - which is both a blessing and a curse.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Jun 17, 2020

One of the most entertaining cautionary tales in recent memory, a quality that is likely to land it on a host of top film lists (mine included).

Full Review | May 22, 2020

It's a bracing journey filled with wonderful anecdotes and splendid footage, and it is, emphatically, Robbie Robertson telling the story of The Band, from his perspective.

Full Review | May 22, 2020

Full of gorgeous archival footage and genuinely soul-stirring music, "Once Were Brothers" is involving from start to finish.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | May 12, 2020

Even if "Once Were Brothers" is tilted toward Robertson's version of events, it, nevertheless, makes compelling viewing.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 15, 2020

The group will remain most famous for the great 1978 Martin Scorsese rock-doc, "The Last Waltz"; while this is nowhere on par with that, it provides a valuable look into the group's origins, dynamics and the making of that great Scorsese film.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 13, 2020

It has great performance footage, interesting talking heads, and freighted music. It feels sentimental and bittersweet, with Robertson coming across as a thoughtful, respectful, vaguely professorial figure.

Full Review | Original Score: 87/100 | Apr 10, 2020

Like similar music docs, Once Were Brothers relies heavily on archival footage, familiar photographs, and outtakes from photography shoots. ... Yet, the beauty of Rohr's documentary is how engagingly he arranges it.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 10, 2020

"Once Were Brothers" is a moving cautionary tale and an important piece of music history, but it's in the pure joy of such moments that The Band is best remembered.

Full Review | Mar 13, 2020

The better way to come close to an understanding of who The Band was is to re-watch The Last Waltz instead.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 9, 2020

It's the stories about recording The Band's first few albums that are the most interesting, especially when you consider that Robertson was Canadian but he still managed to capture the spirit of American roots rock.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 6, 2020