BECOMING COUSTEAU is a biography of Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Caveat: The subtitles for French-speakers are very badly done, with white-on-white making them hard to read.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Sep 16, 2022

A "simple" account of [Cousteau's] life and work... that brings forth the weighty and uncomfortable central idea: Was Cousteau the first marine environmentalist of consequence? [Full review in Spanish]

| Jun 30, 2022

Getting access to the Cousteau archives provided Garbus the chance to create a celebrity-oriented doc that didn't have to rely on familiar footage or a parade of talking heads, and that alone helps to make "Becoming Cousteau" stand apart from the pack.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Jun 15, 2022

Cousteau disliked his films being called documentaries, which he described as a lecture from someone who knows more than you. Being Cousteau might be conventional in its storytelling at times, but captures enough to do the great man justice.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 3, 2022

Becoming Cousteau uses exceptionally strong filmmaking which isn't afraid to take risks and create a unique voice of its own to give the legendary figure a deserved comprehensive capturing of his work and legacy.

| Original Score: A | Feb 12, 2022

A visually appealing documentary about Jacques Cousteau's vast and enthralling explorations of the watery world.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Feb 7, 2022

This in-depth documentary peels back the onion layers of complexity in Cousteau's irrepressible personality...essential viewing.

| Original Score: A | Jan 9, 2022

Becoming Cousteau is as educational as it is insightful...

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 3, 2021

This is a fascinating, educational documentary about the legacy of a complicated man whose singular focus on the ocean cost him personal relationships but earned him international renown.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 1, 2021

[Jacques-Yves Cousteau's] engaging manner and enthusiasm for the planet made him a beloved celebrity; he opened eyes to the beauty, the teeming life and health of our oceans and planet for more than forty years.

| Nov 29, 2021

The film plays like a message for the present and the future more than a story about the past.

| Nov 24, 2021

Becoming Cousteau is an honest yet engrossing portrait of one of the most iconic explorers.

| Nov 13, 2021

[T]he documentary's arrival couldn't be timelier.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 11, 2021

Becoming Cousteau is no hagiography, but greater distance might have also allowed Garbus to reflect more on the man's environmental legacy.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 10, 2021

...Becoming Cousteau is essentially a 10,000 word magazine article committed to video.

| Nov 10, 2021

A nuanced portrait of an oceanographer whose warnings are more prescient than ever.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 9, 2021

Becoming Cousteau is a documentary that succeeds at honoring the man, where he did so much for the world, so the least we can do is continue the message he set in motion today.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 6, 2021

He appears to have been a remarkable man, and Becoming Costeau, this detailed portrait of him, does him full justice.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 30, 2021

Not a pure hagiography, but a fairly straightforward telling of Cousteau's life and career.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 29, 2021

What emerges is a full portrait of Cousteau's evolution, from merely an explorer of the oceans to a champion for them, trying to show the world the damage humankind has done to the planet.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 29, 2021