The end result could do with less tangent and more of the gent himself.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 3, 2023

Some of the film's most disarming moments involve Cohen's early years, as he initially struggles with the transition from poet to folk musician, then again as his U.S. label refuses to release the original version of the titular song.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 15, 2023

The problem here is that Hallelujah, despite a rather unwieldly two hour runtime, spends far too long on things of little importance whenever it threatens to really dig into some of the thornier issues that the song and its commercialized success raise.

| Feb 2, 2023

The origin story of the spiritual song that has swept the world as a modern prayer.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Nov 21, 2022

Directors Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine assemble an impressive collection of interviews, a slew of archival material and more renditions of “Hallelujah” than you ever knew you needed.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 3, 2022

The song’s hymn-like, singalong nature has made it into one of the most all-purpose numbers of all time, used to invest any occasion with a touch of the sacred.

| Sep 22, 2022

While there isn’t much here that fans won’t know, the film still makes for a riveting watch. As for those who are less familiar with the song or its original writer, this might prove to be a genuine eye-opener.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 20, 2022

If this thorough, respectful documentary largely leaves its subject’s mystery intact, that’s probably for the best and what the singer would have wanted.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 18, 2022

... A layered portrait of Cohen’s life (from poet to rock star to monk to comeback king) while always returning to the song that defined him.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 16, 2022

For Cohen fans, it is... full of treasures.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 16, 2022

A film that subtly reclaims the song for Cohen and his fans while acknowledging its importance to those who know nothing about who wrote it or why.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 14, 2022

The final tribute by k.d. lang – emotionally searing, musically soaring — made me weep. I wish there had been more.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 30, 2022

The songs hold up to the sustained study by their documentarians.

| Aug 26, 2022

The documentary entertainingly charts the song’s subsequent journey from obscure but beloved ballad to an overused emotion trigger in movies, at weddings and at funerals.

| Aug 11, 2022

The directors can’t seem to decide if they want the spotlight to be on Cohen or his signature song. The result is a tad frustrating, but the overall film is so entertaining, why not just throw up your arms and shout, “Hallelujah”?

| Original Score: B+ | Aug 10, 2022

...the history of “Hallelujah” is just a small but fascinating section of Hallelujah, which spends most of its run time recounting Cohen’s life in a respectful, restrained manner.

| Aug 8, 2022

A film that works as both a retrospective for Cohen and an examination of the power of music.

| Original Score: B | Aug 5, 2022

... An engrossing portrait of an artist through the lens of his most famous and enduring work.

| Original Score: B+ | Aug 5, 2022

Even with versions and tributes from artists such as Jeff Buckley, John Cale, Judy Collins, Brandi Carlile and many more, 'The Man' himself remains the ultimate star.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 5, 2022

The art belongs to us all, given new meaning as it travels from person to person, land to land, beloved with or without awareness of its source. If Geller and Goldfine are correct, then it’s not a broken hallelujah, but a reaffirmation of one ...

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 5, 2022