The film-making might not be particularly polished, but the subject matter of this documentary is wrenching.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 19, 2017

The power of Clay Tweel's tear-jerking documentary, based on Gleason's video diaries, comes from the honesty and humour with which Gleason presents the gradual loss of control over his bodily functions.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 17, 2017

A moving testament to the courage shown by Gleason and his formidable wife, Michel ...

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 16, 2017

The film is moving and insightful because it is more concerned with being honest than with being uplifting.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 15, 2017

Frank, unashamed and bruising.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 13, 2017

A remarkable, heartrending portrait that showcases the triumph of the human spirit at its most raw.

| Dec 19, 2016

The videos are a way for Gleason to say everything he can to his baby boy before time runs out. That's enough to leave you a blubbering mess, but this doc, culled from home videos by director Clay Tweel, goes much further.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 18, 2016

It's a tough watch, but inspiring.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 12, 2016

However many Kleenex you think you should bring, double it.

| Original Score: B+ | Aug 12, 2016

You don't need to know Steve Gleason's name to be enraptured by his extraordinary story.

| Aug 11, 2016

As Gleason's physical condition worsens, the documentary becomes a harrowing study in marital devotion, capturing him and his loyal wife, Michel Varisco, in a series of increasingly bleak moments together.

| Aug 4, 2016

"Gleason" immerses the viewer in the ordeal of incurable illness. Not just that of the sufferer, but of family, friends, and loved ones as well, because, as these films make clear, such misfortunes are not just personal, but communal.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 4, 2016

"Gleason" portrays great strength and great suffering in equal measure, lending vivid credence to tired platitudes about what it means to live life to the fullest.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 4, 2016

A lot of sports-themed films put a heroic, inspirational spin on the proceedings. You cheer, shed a few tears, and move on. That's so not "Gleason."

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 4, 2016

As inspiring as it is devastating.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 1, 2016

Tweel has crafted a film that goes beyond the facts of Gleason's football life. It promotes an awareness of ALS that trumps any well-intended ice-bucket challenge - and ranks as a profound achievement.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 29, 2016

The documentary Gleason, a big Sundance hit, is difficult to watch -- and that's the point.

| Original Score: B | Jul 29, 2016

A tearjerker of a film but also a joyous one.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 29, 2016

While the director's vision never strays too far from the positive message that he and the Gleasons doubtlessly wish to impart, the movie winds up being most effective at doing what cinema cannot avoid doing.

| Jul 28, 2016

If this film portrait stirs deep emotions, they spring from a breathtakingly unsentimental embrace of life at its most challenging.

| Jul 28, 2016