How'm I doin? 3.5 stars :)

Very well done. Informative and engaging.

A straight-forward but fascinating documentary about how Ed Koch - equal parts controversial and beloved - helped New York transform from bankrupt disaster of 1977 to the modern metropolis of 1989. It is a very even story that helps show that Koch wasn't always beloved. In fact, several people discuss how he is racist, opportunistic, or shrewed. But what made Koch so fascinating was that he never held back, making him not just an iconic mayor, but an iconic New Yorker.

"Koch" takes a look at all sides of the former three-term mayor of NYC. It even touches on the elephant in the room, the mayor's sexuality. Koch has the mayor speak on several topics that hurt his political career and to hear his thoughts just months before his death are revealing. You may have to be from the New York metropolitan area to care, but being that I am I found it interesting and important.

"Koch" is an informative documentary about Edward I. Koch(1924-2013), the mayor of New York City from 1977 to 1989. He started by saving the city from bankruptcy while starting a troublesome trend of making the city more welcome to tourists and suburbanites than its own people. Throughout, his outsized personality proved perfect for the city's tabloids, as his politics became more conservative than those when he was a congressman representing just Greenwich Village.(By contrast, Kirsten Gillibrand's politics are much more liberal now that she is representing New York State as a Senator.) But his working both ends against the middle would eventually politically doom him.(If you want to see what New York City looked like in 1989, watch "Do the Right Thing.) The biggest failure of his time in office was not doing enough during the AIDS crisis, with the Gay Men's Health Crisis picking up the slack in handling services that the city should have provided. As far as Koch's sexuality(or lack of) goes, I agree in an absolute sense of privacy but since Koch was publicly and proudly Jewish, shouldn't his sexuality be on the same level? Overall, "Koch" does a good job of chronicling his life and times, with many then current conversations with the man himself, as the Queensboro Bridge is renamed in his honor. At the same time, the filmmakers could have cast a wider net in interview subjects, not just talking to his allies. For example, it would have helped if they at least also talked to Jimmy Breslin and Al Sharpton. And I know it's just a curious footnote, but I would also have liked to have seen more on his acting appearances that went beyond his hosting Saturday Night Live.

I loved this portrait of an ever-smiling magnetic Personality who found loneliness at the top.

Really good documentary. Seeing NYC the way I remember it growing up in the 70's and 80's was nostalgic. Just wished that they expanded a bit more on some of the issues Koch had faced during his 3-term tenure as Mayor and more of what he had done after his tenure as Mayor. Not much was shown or discussed of the latter. Enjoyed the movie nonetheless.

Barsky may have been a little too nice to Ed Koch with this film, but I appreciate the desire to openly examine his administration in all of it's little and big contradictions.

A Tale of Two Cities Koch, now available on VOD At Yom Kipper dinner Ed Koch sits with his family discussing the new Mosque that opened near ground Zero (which opened exactly 10 years after 9/11). Koch explains that "yes they have a right and we have a right to protest and I protest." His family members don't shy from disagreeing with him, comparing the Muslim plight to that of the Jews while Koch firmly stands his ground. This is how Koch spent most of his mayoral candidacy, disagreeing with his naysayers as if spite meant political progress. In the new documentary Koch, which ran theatrically in February (the same month as his death), filmmaker Neil Barsky does not attempt to show Koch as New York's most beloved mayor but (much like the city he served) as an opinionated opportunist who got things done his way. The film opens with city council members deciding if the Queens Borough Bridge should be named after Koch. Most of the council members agree that it should and come prepared with speeches in his honor. But councilman Charles Barron of Brooklyn stands up and gives an "unequivocally absolutely no." This would be the tone of Koch's candidacy and the film-"how'm I doin'?" Well that depends on who you ask. Although spending his childhood in New Jersey, the Bronx born Koch was a New Yorker to the core, which was part of his charm and derision. The film works because it shows the many faces of a man and the city in which he presided. When something happens in Dover Delaware or even Los Angeles, it probably won't touch the radar, but when you decide to shut down a hospital in Harlem or neglect the AIDS epidemic, a mayor's legacy will be tainted and the world will know about it. In the documentary Koch states that shutting down the hospital in Harlem (one of the few hospitals that would hire black doctors) was a mistake. Koch was never one to shy away from controversy, and seemed to wear it as a badge of honor. To be New York City's mayor, is to preside over the great American experiment "to see whether all the peoples of the world [can] live together in a single place" (Rick Burns, New York). Several have argued Koch was not up for this experiment and the film does not shy away from his dissenters. We hear from the man himself, those who loved him and those who found his tactics divisive. At one point Pastor Dr. Calvin O. Butts, when discussing if Koch was a racist, claims worse-he was an opportunist. As the film documents, Koch (whose apartment is adorned with art and accolades dedicated to his political career) is excessively enamored with his himself, perhaps because he never opened up to loving anyone else? This is a man who chose a Gentile resting place (Trinity Church) in order to remain in Manhattan, accessible to his constituents. Despite his tumultuous political career, Koch was an entertaining figure, a perfect subject matter for film. With each decade introduced in huge font as if only a lion tamer could run the city, Koch shows that no ordinary ego could govern New York City-he was a fighter during a time when New York needed a champion. Another great aspect of this film is that during the 1970s decay and crime scenes never once is Grand Master Flashes "The Message" synched in! This title is currently available on Amazon Instant and iTunes. In viewing documentaries it is always good to remain vigilant about the type of information a filmmaker is presenting. For a closer look at Ed Koch's political career, Joseph Burger took a discerning look at his candidacy in a New York Times article last February http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/nyregion/so-how-did-mayor-koch-do.html. Other Doc's Of Note Featuring Koch: 1. American Experience: New York (http://www.amazon.com/New-York-Country-City-1609-1825/dp/B006CCOIZI) (8 episodes) Chronicles the history of New York from Hamilton's accent on the city as a young orphan from the West Indies to the aftermath of the 911 attacks. In classic Ric Burns style this Doc will envelope its audience like a great novel. The entire documentary is available on Amazon instant. 2. The Central Park Five (http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/centralparkfive/) Takes a riveting look at the botched case where five young teenagers were wrongly accused of raping and assaulting a jogger in central park. 3. Making the Boys (Netflix) Explores how the first gay play "The Boys in The Band" would break artistic and social ground.

It is a excellent documentary that presents an honest human portrait of the iconic larger-than-life one-time New York mayor who came to symbolize his great city. While the recently-deceased Ed Koch cooperated and was extensively interviewed in 2010 for the film, it is neither hagiography or a political hit piece. It is fair-minded and shows Koch as a politician who had great successes and great failures.

Very interesting doc. What a different world New York was back then. Seemed like it would have been more fun. Was filmed before he died. Could have gotten more in depth. Seemed to switch subjects when it was getting good.

It's called 'Koch' but it's really a documentary about New York City during the 1980s and it's mayor, Ed Koch with a few tidbits of his life before and after his eventful run governing the Big Apple. Nostalgia value is high here with numerous flashbacks to graffiti decorated subway cars, porn consumed Times Square, and Studio 54. There's also blackouts, transit strikes, racial tension, and public housing projects. The film has a fast pace and mostly touches lightly on all facets of the Koch administration, positive and negative, making for an enjoyable, witty snack when it could have been a delicious filling meal.

From 1978 to 1989, Ed Koch was the enormously powerful and enormously controversial Mayor of New York City. Elected to three terms before his eventual defeat, Mayor Koch's supporters claim that he helped lead New York out of bankruptcy and instituted many of the policies that led to New York's revival, while his opponents would argue he ignored the concerns of African-Americans and homosexuals. Using the framing device of a fight over renaming the Queensboro Bridge after the former Mayor, director Neil Barsky tells the story of Koch's mayoralty and provides insight into his life at the time of filming. Both in the archival footage and the recent interviews conducted for the film, Ed Koch comes across at once funny, divisive, charming, maddening, clever, and strident. He is a man entirely comfortable with who he is: reliant for his happiness on the adoration of the public but unfazed by those who hate him. Yet even without an answer to who Mayor Koch was on a deeper level, "Koch" is a detailed and entertaining look at a fascinating time in New York City's history. Moving at a brisk pace for its 100 minutes, the film starts by providing the context of his term as Mayor and what he confronted when he moved to Gracie Mansion -- rampant crime, looming municipal bankruptcy, dysfunctional municipal government and services, a total breakdown in civil order -- and then goes on to cover many of the Mayor's works and initiatives. What clearly comes through is Ed Koch's larger than life personality as demonstrated in his cheering on city residents who walked to work over the Brooklyn Bridge during the 1980 transit strike. The film also a fair hearing to some of the Mayor's biggest perceived failures; namely those who charge that he was insensitive to the African-American community in the closing of Sydenham Hospital, police brutality towards minorities, the myriad municipal corruption scandals in his last term, and his perceived inadequate response to the AIDS crisis. Despite the Mayor's protestations, these issues clearly are black marks on his legacy. Yet the Mayor's achievements are also shown, and it's clear that Ed Koch left New York City much better than he found it. Neil Barsky makes his feature documentary debut here with a film that, astonishingly, might possibly please everyone, regardless of their opinion of Koch. With great good humor, including that of Koch himself, who appears to have cooperated fully in the production, Barsky paints a warts-and-all portrait of Ed Koch that is historically compelling, journalistically rigorous, and bursting with the larger than life character that Ed Koch was. Perhaps the remarkable thing about "Koch" is how generous it manages to be without losing its cool, impartial perspective on just how controversial Ed Koch was in almost every aspect of his mayoralty. As a final coda to punctuate his life, Ed Koch died one day before the film's premiere in the city he remade in his own image. Ed Koch was always a political showman and knew how to make an exit.

Koch wasn't perfect but he was a character, and watching this movie while living in NYC today sure makes you appreciate the stuff he got right. R.I.P.