Critic Reviews

Putting the viewer into a men’s circle like no other, The Work is a remarkable piece of reportage.

When the participants convulse and cry, the film’s empathetic connection is so direct and so strong, audiences may be driven to weep as well.

What emerges is as riveting as it is revelatory.

There’s also such a profound sense of support among the participants, albeit of the tough-love variety, that the movie offers a strange kind of hope.

An emotionally riveting documentary that may very well be the most powerful group therapy ever caught on camera.

What’s terrifying about The Work is that this introspection is merely the first step. It’s a snapshot, not the full picture of men becoming more in tune with themselves and ceasing to filter all emotional processes through outward aggression. What’s comforting about The Work, then, is seeing society’s forgotten and discarded beginning this journey.

In its visceral purity, Jairus McLeary's film drags male toxicity up into the light, offering it as a cure for itself.

The Work is a rousing, arresting and ultimately cathartic call-to-arms for the power and value of rehabilitation.

Stylistically, co-directors McLeary and Aldous were given complete access to the retreat and wield their cameras like voyeuristic lanterns in a tremendously dark place.

Though The Work leaves a lot unanswered about this unusual program (run by the Inside Circle Foundation), and the characters who participate in it, it’s an often tense and exhilarating glimpse into a moment in time that lets men prioritize honesty and tears over superficial displays of strength.