Ron Mann's observational documentary provides a similar refuge. Even its contrivances are comforting.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 29, 2020

Some documentaries make you angry, others make you change your mind on something you didn't even know you had an opinion on. Others, like Carmine Street Guitars, just fill you with an overwhelming sense of tranquillity and joy.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 26, 2020

Kelly might be a dying breed, but this feels like a lasting tribute.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 26, 2020

If a film had a smell, this one would be of sawdust, varnish and pure love.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 26, 2020

The film not only procures an appreciation for music and handcrafted art, but also an admiration for the resilience of small shops surrounded by grand skyscrapers and builds.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 25, 2020

Experiencing this documentary without encountering any advance hype is like stumbling into the cozy Greenwich Village shop of the title: it's a ride down the rabbit hole to a world of unexpected and singular pleasures.

| Mar 14, 2020

Mann allows his camera to simply exist in the space...he just happens to be there when magic is being created and artistry is at play.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 26, 2019

As a sort of video capsule of an important part of New York history, Carmine Street Guitars is sweet and simple, presenting a necessary message of embracing the arts, while supporting local and independent businesses.

| Jul 25, 2019

The film harkens back to Mann's earliest and arguably best work, like the free jazz doc Imagine the Sound and the who's who of rhythm and words Poetry in Motion.

| May 15, 2019

A beautiful and engrossing film full of little memories that together tell a much bigger story: about music, craftsmanship and history.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 14, 2019

[A] leisurely Sunday stroll of a documentary about the cozy Greenwich Village mainstay in New York City that has served as a sanctuary for musicians.

| May 9, 2019

Carmine Street Guitars is an affectionate, somewhat elegiac glimpse into a master and a craft that, like so much of the surrounding neighborhood, is steadily being corporately gentrified.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 9, 2019

His ethos: a contemplative connection between the durability of nature and the ethereal power of music. It's pure. And it's pure bliss.

| Original Score: 5/5 | May 2, 2019

A loving tribute to a true craftsman.

| Original Score: B+ | May 1, 2019

The subject is so interesting, and the music played by these people is so gorgeous.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 24, 2019

While this approach yields results that are sometimes a little stilted, the movie is mostly as sweet as it is informative.

| Apr 24, 2019

Carmine Street Guitars is, essentially, about pure love. A pure love of a craft. A pure love of the music, and a pure love a city. A pure love of creation.

| Original Score: A | Apr 23, 2019

Making a documentary can be as simple as finding the right subject and getting out of the way. Carmine Street Guitars is that kind of doc.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 23, 2019

The film celebrates the thingness of things, as well as the assuring clarity and lucidity that can arise from devotion to knowledge.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 23, 2019

"Carmine Street Guitars" is a one-of-a-kind documentary that exudes a gentle, homespun magic.

| Apr 21, 2019