Gerhard Richter - Painting 2012

Mark Feeney, Boston Globe: The sight of Richter going back and forth between two related canvases recalls Roger Federer playing tennis with himself in slow, deliberative motion. Read more

Rachel Saltz, New York Times: Each swipe covers the old painting and reveals a new composition. Watching this can be fascinating, even exciting. After all, it prompts a fundamental movie question: What happens next? Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: You will see the man toiling and revising-killing off half-good ideas, struggling for clarity-and it's a routine well worth demystifying. Read more

Michael Upchurch, Seattle Times: Belz delivers exactly what her title promises: the sight of Richter at work on his canvases. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: Just as a document of the sheer physical labor that goes into covering a giant canvas with color, Gerhard Richter Painting is never less than absorbing. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: The works in question express a delicate balance between spontaneity and rigid formal control -- seeing Richter at work is a bit like watching a great trapeze artist. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: "Gerhard Richter - Painting" is a stirring portrait of an artist in search of his art - the mystery of the process, the beauty of the hunt and the wonder of discovery. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The film is sketchy as biography, but it proves an aging artist can still crackle with the electricity of youth. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: A mesmerizing look behind the curtain at a magician at work, a man who creates his enchantments not with a deck of cards or puffs of smoke but rather paint, brushes, canvas and a giant squeegee. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: Instead of trotting out people - friend and foe - to comment on the renowned German abstract painter, Belz allows Richter to tell his own story. Read more

Kenneth Baker, San Francisco Chronicle: It shows us the world's most famous living painter, who turned 80 in February, at work with greater intimacy than any other film portrait of a contemporary artist provides. Read more

Claude Peck, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Richter gives off a heroic, creator-of-the-universe air as he strains to push the squeegee, exposing a new world in his wake. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Through the documentary lens, Richter's enigmatic paintings speak to us. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: A documentary about the 80-year-old German artist putting paint on canvas that offers a look at the mighty mountain of creative achievement. Read more

Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic: A kind of residence with its subject rather than a report. Read more

Murray Whyte, Toronto Star: Nearly two hours of drab, dull-as-dishwater footage of the politely taciturn painter quietly going about his business... Read more

Alissa Simon, Variety: Gerhard Richter Painting offers fascinating insight into the working process of the famed contemporary artist as he prepares a series of abstract canvases. Read more

Aaron Hillis, Village Voice: Gerhard Richter Painting artfully and convincingly immerses us into the world of one of the greatest, painting. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Richter offers multiple explanations of how he knows when a painting is done. They range from the mundane to the lofty. Read more