“Lurid, heartbreaking, purely 21st-century stuff. In the wrong hands, “The Girl From Plainville” could have felt exploitative, but showrunners Liz Hannah and Patrick Macmanus serve up a nuanced, balanced and creatively intriguing approach to the material. We’re outraged by Michelle’s lies and manipulations, but as portrayed by Elle Fanning in a finely calibrated performance, Michelle also comes across as a sad, lonely and troubled young woman who was under some sort of delusional belief she was actually helping Conrad by encouraging him to end his suffering and leave this world for a better place.” Richard Roeper for the Chicago Sun Times

“But Fanning is able to convey all these different faces of Michelle Carter — the opportunist, the manipulator, the scared little girl — with such aplomb. Even when she’s left to wear Carter’s unfortunate darkened eyebrows and stiff hair, there’s a vulnerability underneath her that, again, might not have been Carter’s but works within the series. It’s Colton Ryan, though, who balances out Fanning’s performance. For all the ways Carter is presented as too clingy and needy, Ryan’s Coco Roy makes her human as he requires her strength and validation to make him feel whole.” kristen Lopez for IndieWire

“While Carr explores the past of the remorseless Madsen, who was a minor celebrity in Denmark, she chooses to focus more on the life and prolific career of Wall, who was only 30 years old at the time of her death. […] She was no stranger to the risks involved in being a female freelance journalist, having received hostile-environment training and traveled extensively for work.Carr includes interviews with people who knew Wall, trial footage and never-before-heard audio to depict the life of a determined journalist just trying to do her job and grappling with sexism before encountering a killer.” Risa Sarachan for Forbes

“What makes Carr’s take so refreshing is her focus on sidelining Wall’s tragic death in favor of her short dramatic life. […]But the female-focused director […] seems much more concerned with ensuring that the accomplished Wall — a London School of Economics and Columbia University grad who received grants from organizations like the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and the International Women’s Media Foundation — is at the center of her own story. […]In doing so Carr has taken the power of the narrative back from a narcissistic psychopath and returned it to the victim.” Lauren Wissot for Filmmaker Magazine

“Carr has frequently explored the oppression of women in her work with truly great results, and Britney Vs. Spears is no exception; it’s not just a rehashing of the stories we’ve already heard. It feels like a genuine effort to make a difference, to break through all the noise and the headlines and remind us that there is a real person suffering at the heart of this story. […] Britney Vs. Spears cares about Britney getting that control back, and about confronting the systems that failed her – and that’s what allows it to stand out from the rest.” Jade Budowski for Decider

There’s a dark undercurrent to every frame of Carr’s feature, reminding us that as much as audiences’ loved Spears, there was a patriarchy that wanted to keep her confined. Kristen Lopez for indieWire

Still, something remarkable happens at the end of the film. In a deft move, Carr uses excerpts from a recording made at a court hearing in June. After all those talking heads speaking about her, speaking for her, Britney speaks. And what she says has a sorrow and a fury, but also a clarity and defiance. Lisa Kennedy for the New york times

How to Fix a Drug Scandal dissects in suspenseful yet compassionate fashion over the course of four hours, with first-person interviews from criminal defense lawyers who fought to secure release for clients convicted with faulty evidence, state prosecutors, journalists and members of Farak’s family. Adrian Horton for The Guardian

In How to Fix a Drug Scandal, Carr offers a look at a state-wide broken system. Viewers can decide for themselves whether or not they think the Massachusetts AG's office was irresponsible—if they tried to cover up Farak's wrongdoings, and if those convicted because of Dookhan and Farak's tests should be freed because of the chemists' crimes. Kelly Wynne for Newsweek

“ADDICTIVE ENTERTAINMENT” John Anderson for The Wall Street Journal

How to Fix a Drug Scandal shows how a state tried to “fix” its drug scandals, and makes the strong argument that no part of the justice system is untouched by humans’ capacity to screw things up. Alissa Wilkinson for Vox

All in all, “How to Fix a Drug Scandal” fairly summarizes an almost unfathomably complex and far-reaching legal imperative. As the reverberations continue to ripple outward, more and more stories will surface. This series, along with those additional perspectives, are worth the attention of those who care about justice. Erin Trahan for WBUR

Director Erin Lee Carr (Mommy Dead and Dearest) deftly layers her story with arguments, reveals and twists that will continuously unearth and rebury your opinion on Carter’s culpability, even long after the doc’s final moments.  (Warning: Best not bring up the case during an otherwise pleasant vacation dinner with friends.) Robyn Bahr FOR THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

“I Love You, Now Die is an incredibly compelling documentary. It fairly presents the facts of both sides of the case and leaves it to you to form your own conclusions.” ALAN NG FOR FILM THREAT

“But the actual relationship between Roy and Carter, explored with nuance and sensitivity (…) was more complicated than many summaries of the case allowed. (…) Carr, in what feels like a revelatory move for a documentarian investigating a true-crime case, never comes down on one side or offers up a finite conclusion.” SOPHIE GILBERT FOR THE ATLANTIC

5 STAR REVIEW FROM THE GUARDIAN. “I Love You, Now Die is a superbly perceptive study of the endless convolutions and complexities of the human mind (…) It succeeds in raising questions – gently, but relentlessly – about our prejudices and our readiness to judge, as individuals and through our institutions, from the media to the courts.” LUCY MANGNAN FOR THE GUARDIAN

“I Love You, Now Die goes a step further, searching for the stories that Michelle Carter told herself, and the ones that she and Roy told each other.” AMY ZIMMERMAN FOR THE DAILY BEAST

“Carr plays it straight aesthetically, marrying archival footage with newly recorded commentary, and it’s the latter that gives “At the Heart of Gold” its gut-punching potency.” NICK SCHRAGER FOR VARIETY

By turning the documentary into such a powerful forum for the resolve and resilience of these young women, Carr, in filmmaking terms, really sticks the landing. BRIAN LOWRY FOR CNN


The 88-minute film succeeds where mainstream media too often failed... making full use of its feature-length canvas in pulling together the many complex threads of a story that was always bigger, and more sinister, than a single monster. BRYAN ARMAN GRAHAM FOR THE GUARDIAN

“ERIN LEE CARR’S ‘at the heart of gold: inside the usa gymnastics scandal’ is a compellingly woven true-crime primer that serves both the gist of what happened while exploding your consciousness over what needs to be done.” robert abele FOR THE los angeles times

Critics Consensus: At the Heart of Gold is a scathing indictment of institutional abuse that sensitively provides victims with a platform to tell their stories. 100% RATING ON ROTTEN TOMATOES


NYTIMES CRITIC’S PICK: It's a chilling reminder that real predators rarely look and act like movie monsters. BILGE EBIRY FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

"HBO’S "Mommy Dead and Dearest" is a perfect storm of true crime, pageantry, and southern gothic tropes. This is a story that needs to be seen to be believed. A must-watch for any fan of true crime." Aja Romano for VOX.

"With a clear eye for the bizarre twists, absurdities and horrors that shape a tabloid story, filmmaker Erin Lee Carr is concerned first and foremost with that story’s real-life characters. "Mommy Dead and Dearest" gathers many voices to explain how, in the case of Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s ballyhooed bond, loving togetherness was in fact a sociopathic stranglehold." Sherri Lindin for THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

 

"TV's infatuation with true crime can be traced to "Making a Murderer" and "The Jinx," but precious little rises to that level. HBO scales those heights and then some with "Mommy Dead and Dearest," a twisted and twisty documentary that's as unsettling as it is absorbing." Brian Lowry for CNN.  

"Some true-crime documentaries have to embellish and overstate to justify giving so much attention to a garden-variety criminal case. Not “mommy dead and dearest,” which has its premiere Monday night on HBO. The strangeness of this killing speaks for itself, and the director, erin lee carr, largely just lets it do so. Neil Genzlinger for the NEW YORK TIMES.

"Absorbing," "a primer for the century ahead."  Neil Genzlinger for the New York Times.

 “It's a compelling documentary...that raises uncomfortable questions." Jordan Hoffman for THE GUARDIAN

"Carr pushes this story beyond its tabloid luridness to discover that even legal experts, psychologists and Internet ethicists are somewhat flummoxed — if not by the fact that Valle was prosecuted in the first place, then by the limits of what any of us could be charged with." Hank Stuever for THE WASHINGTON POST

"When do horrific thoughts become crimes? Do mere Google searches — even ones as menacing as "What is the best rope to tie someone up with?" and "How do you make chloroform?" — constitute overt acts? Is engaging in online conversations about raping, torturing and murdering women evidence of a conspiracy? These are among the fascinating questions raised by Erin Lee Carr's provocative documentary about Gilberto Valle, better known, thanks to tabloid newspapers, as the "Cannibal Cop." Frank Sheck for THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER