This review was first published on Sept. 11, 2022, after the film’s premiere at the Venice Film Fesitval.
Less a biography than an act of communion, Laura Poitras’ “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” sets for itself a difficult task: What more can you reveal about the most self-revealing of artists? What can a documentary portrait about Nan Goldin bring out that Goldin — a photographer who arguably revolutionized the artform with her candor — hasn’t already explored? To see the “Citizenfour” director wrestle and conquer those thorny questions is one of the many thrills of Poitras’ masterful, Venice Golden Lion–winning film.