How To Smell A Rose: A Visit with Ricky Leacock at his Farm in Normandy

Name: How To Smell A Rose: A Visit with Ricky Leacock at his Farm in Normandy
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2014-08-31
Rating: 4.8

Documentary1h 5m

🍅100%

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100%

Tomatometer

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50%

Popcornmeter

4.8

TMDB

Storyline

In the year 2000, Les Blank, along with co-filmmaker Gina Leibrecht, visited Richard Leacock (1921-2011) at his farm in Normandy, France and recorded conversations with him about his life, his work, and his other passion: cooking! With the flair of a seasoned raconteur, Leacock recounts key moments in his seventy years as a filmmaker and the innovations that he, D.A. Pennebaker, Albert Maysles and others invented that revolutionized documentary filmmaking, and explores the mystery of creativity. With the passing of both Blank and Leacock, the documentary is a moving insight into the lives of two seminal figures in the history of film.

Trailers

How To Smell A Rose: A Visit with Ricky Leacock at his Farm in Normandy trailer thumbnail

Details

DirectorsLes Blank, Gina Leibrecht

ReleasedAug 31, 2014

StatusReleased

Original languageEnglish

Budget

Not disclosed

Revenue

Not disclosed

Parental guideNot rated

Reviews

6 reviews · 5 critics

5 fresh · 0 rotten

Noel Murray

RTAV ClubAug 13, 2015

The ordinariness of this film-and the flatness of its video-shot images, relative to Blank's beautiful-looking '70s films-isn't a significant drawback, given how eloquent Leacock can be.

Farran Smith Nehme

RTNew York PostAug 12, 2015

The great documentarian Les Blank died in 2013 - two years after his mentor, Richard Leacock - but both are warmly present in this set of interviews Blank did with his teacher in France 15 years ago.

Nicolas Rapold

RTNew York TimesAug 12, 2015

Like Mr. Leacock's other films, it helps give the "feeling of being there" that he strove for.

Nora Lee Mandel

RTFilm-Forward.comAug 12, 2015

Provides a leisurely, insightful history of documentaries that parallels the filmmaker's biography, done in the style he championed, by Les Blank, who he greatly influenced.