Key players in the saga, led by the clear-eyed and contemplative Renee DuBois Brody — who married Michael after knowing him just a few weeks — provide helpful context and connect events of more than half a century ago to today.

| Jul 28, 2023

Among many topics raised in Dear Mr. Brody, the story of a man who gave away his ill-gotten money for need, not greed, is how media and money blur our already imperfect perception of mental illness.

| Jun 16, 2023

Unevenly executed but still compelling: a far-out cautionary tale of money, media, and gonzo idealism gone wrong.

| Original Score: B | Apr 29, 2022

Absorbing, and ultimately quite moving, documentary...a surprisingly affecting treatment of a fleeting moment in American history that offers a glimpse into the national character.

| Original Score: B+ | Apr 28, 2022

Maitland has invested his film in a wonderful sense of visual design.

| Mar 19, 2022

A fascinating documentary of a story long forgotten that keeps the viewer fully engrossed. It hits us where it hurts most, the heart. Its a beautiful story in many ways. One that reflects humanitys will to do good.

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

Dear Mr. Brody does a fine job of showing how the financial chasm between rich and poor people is as wide and insurmountable today as it was in 1970.

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

2022 is but two months young, so declaring Dear Mr. Brody the years saddest film would be a mite premature. Better to say that its the saddest film of 2022 so far instead.

| Original Score: 7.8/10 | Mar 4, 2022

The film is over-directed and antic in spots but unexpectedly touching in others, and it’s paced for maximum involvement and lingering melancholy.

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

Maitland's Tower remains one of the best documentaries of the past decade, and as another imaginative slice of history, memory, and contemporary applicability, this one is a more than worthy follow-up.

| Mar 4, 2022

Mixing bittersweet poignancy with mysterious intrigue, this compelling documentary finds contemporary relevance in an obscure news story from a half-century ago.

| Mar 4, 2022

Brody may have been a 15-minutes-of-fame footnote, but those tens of thousands of mainly unopened letters left in his wake continue to offer a penetrating glimpse into the persisting vulnerability of the human condition.

| Mar 4, 2022

Humanizes those who reached out to Brody for help, which is something the television news media at the time didn't really do.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Mar 4, 2022

Like Tower, it connects the past and present, and it lingers - by honoring the extraordinary sacrifices of ordinary people.

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

Keith Maitland's documentary ... treats the eponymous subject... as a mystery and, hence, undermines the real lessons we might have taken from this tale.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 4, 2022

While Brody's story proves wildly entertaining and tragic in ways you cannot imagine when first hearing his confidant charitable promise, Dear Mr. Brody's real value is in the people he touched even if he never met them or read their words.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Mar 4, 2022

“Dear Mr. Brody” invites timely thoughts about the wealthy and income disparity.

| Mar 3, 2022

The film poignantly draws a straight line from the economic anxieties of the past straight to the present.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 28, 2022

The dramatic heart of the film is diligent and empathetic detective work.

| Feb 28, 2022

Decades after Michael Brody Jr. offered Americans his fortune, Keith Maitland's fascinating documentary opens some of their myriad letters.

| Jun 11, 2021