Synopsis
Trailers
Reviews (37)
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Q
This is an easy documentary to rate but a hard one to review. It’s designed to be a different movie each time you watch it, literally! Director Gary Hustwit has compiled 500 hours of material (so far!), including archival footage of legendary record producer and ambient musician Brian Eno at work at the various stages of his career as well as new interviews with Eno himself. Then, Hustwit helped design software that randomly selects an assortment of pre-edited blocks of the assembled material to show at each roughly 90-minute screening. By my calculations, unless you watch Eno at least 333 times, you’re not going to see all possible footage. In some ways, it’s a gimmicky idea that cashes in on…
73 2 -
F
eno yelling “oh shut up!” at the grammerly ad autoplaying when he’s trying to listen to a fela kuti song on youtube = he’s just like me fr etc
133 3 -
J
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T
Brian Eno tells Bono to be more passionate, Bowie isn’t quite sure what Brian does, he calls producers “sniveling cowards”, he won’t pay for YouTube (I understand that), Laurie Anderson does nothing, and Eno declares that the purpose of art is to transmit or process feelings. Oblique Strategies indeed.
88 3 -
F
unfortunate that I got a cut of this that was heavy on U2 and had zero Fripp minus one star for making me feel interested in U2
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MMatt Singer 8 月 23, 2026
Feels weird to rate a movie that supposedly exists in 52 quintillion different variations when I’ve only seen one. But I did enjoy this.
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J
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K
I’m really glad that Brian Eno used his brilliance for good because he would make an incredible cult leader.
557 1 -
K
I really did not expect to like this, but was very curious about this as an experimental film. The film is generative in a sense that it pulls from something like 7 hours worth of footage but each time you watch it will be a film. I watched versions 4.120, 4.122 and 4.123, but there are purportedly 52 quintillion different possible versions of the film. Really quite interesting. I watched during a live stream but will be very curious to see what (if any) digital distribution would look like. Degrees of Kevin Bacon: 3 1. Brian Eno and Phillip Glass in Two Moon July 2. Phillip Glass and Ed Harris in The Truman Show 3. Ed Harris and Kevin Bacon in Apollo 13
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C
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C
Fun 80 minutes with a nice man (this time thru) — definitely wanted it to be exclusively Roxy Music and gossiping, but I enjoyed the time I spent and the spirit, the feeling, with which everything was presented. Wish I had gotten more insight, but a big part of this project seemed to be to present a non-verbal account of the theory and the practice, and I can, grudgingly, live with that.
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B
gen_5.12 2026_august criterion_channel I was going to write that this wasn’t necessarily the best version I’d seen, but that I was giving it 5 stars simply for being the boundless, original piece of art that it is. And then, in the second half, David Byrne shows up (I hadn’t seen him in the other two versions) and he reads an oblique strategy card that says “repetition as a form of change”. The film then goes backward to a scene we…
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C
Absolutely incredible for fans of this genius human. Criterion is also running a different version of Eno every month, leaving billions of different options we can catch on streaming, as it’ll always be changing. So innovative and I’d expect nothing less from such a creative being in Brian! A must see. 🫡🖤🙌🏻✨
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M
A truely mesmerising, in every single sense of the word, film giving a rich and profound portrait on a one of a kind Artist that we are so lucky to still have with us to this day! Brian Eno is really genious and this film proves this genious just by hearing him speak about music and the importance of music in how it influences life. The way uses sound for his albums as yet been reproduced, it’s quite exceptional. My version was great! It’s quite crazy to think that their are more than 1 quintillion versions of this film…..
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P
Criterion is streaming a new generated version of Eno every month. When July left, I loved it so much I wish I was able to hold onto it to watch later. The August iteration is just as beautiful. I believe my favorite one will be the one I’ve watched the most recently. Aside from the fact he is a Mt. Rushmore artist for me, the content and the context just conjures up thoughts as ephemeral as this version, where creating…
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WWolandus 8 月 19, 2026
Pretty impossible to watch this and not be inspired, at least the August 2026 version. Maybe next month’s will suck, but this was a great look into the artistic philosophy of one of music’s all time greats. Can’t wait to watch again next month.
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K
Really started questioning if that was it. The ‘stock’ footage up until the card pull really had me doubting if they had any tricks left up their sleeve, and wow, lesson learned not to doubt them again. Some of the coolest stuff out of this version. Treatments being heavily inspired by dub music and Lee Perry was cool to hear about, and the synth/roxy and Bowie scenes after were awesome too. That was the first time Ive seen the man himself (Bowie) take a swig from the milk carton gen_5.12 David’s card pull was “repetition as a form of change” and “go outside. Shut the door”
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J
S **** D **** M ****1/2 X ****
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Llaura tg 8 月 18, 2026
i’m in too deep on Eno to be objective.
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I
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B
Great, now, in that way where we look forward to what’s not part of the pattern – what’s new. New stuff includes: Discussing Discreet music which Bowie listened to over and over as he traveled the US trying to kick his coke habit, Eno discussing his family, gushing over Lee Perry’s style of mixing, the complicated business of producing Devo’s first album (which accidentally led to “music for airports”), a scene of Eno, embarrassed, listening to himself on his old…
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Llizardpt1 8 月 17, 2026
Watched it in the afternoon at Cable st
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D
gen_5.12 Impressed by how varied the first 3 Criterion versions have been, this months focused more on music and saw a few clips that I hadn’t seen since my first viewing.
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NNickCain 8 月 16, 2026
Hopefully to nice watch before school starts. Obsession & Backrooms in May, The Odyessy and Spider Man Brand New Day, Jackass best and last as well. Eno is one of the best documentary on a talented producer and creator of ambient music. I love reviewing films, and this is a great start point, to be creative. ❤️
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L
I saw version ?? and I quite enjoyed it. Brian Eno is pure inspiration. I miss the feeling of being inspired.
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D
Fascinating film concept. I’ll be watching this monthly for a while.
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B
I loved how my version of this film dove deeply into the ethos of Enos approach to production and the creation of music that he was involved in. A playfulness to the process as well as embracing imperfections and mistakes, letting them lead to a product rich with surprises. Also the parts about transformation surrounding repetition in music and how your ears and brain start to search for patterns and pick up little nuances within the musical recordings was fascinating. Making the listener make the song! Wish in my watch through there was less u2 and instead more devo!
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N
Can anyone get me a copy of Oblique Strategies?
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E
qué preciosas todas las palabras que salen de este hombre llegué a esta versión digital de su baraja de cartas “oblique strategies”: ob-strat.netlify.app/
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SShaunhfpt 8 月 16, 2026
Someone’s gotta get Brian a YouTube Premium subscription
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H
so inspiring
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B
Brian Eno is a legitimate creative genius. He is also incredibly charming and it is a treat to hear him articulate his thoughts on creativity and the creative process. You also get fascinating bits of Roxy Music, Bowie, U2 and others recording and performances. He also hates internet ads and flies. And is hangry bitch. Or that is what i saw. The documentary, by design, is random with many different pieces, in different order upon every viewing. So one will…
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S
I absolutely loved this film and I can honestly say that I think Eno and I would get along pretty well since we share a lot of the same philosophies. The multiple variation piece fits well with Eno’s personality but I have yet to determine how successful of an experiment it is in reality, but I’ll watch at least one more version of this film in the future to see how I feel about it.
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G
So good
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J
Fascinating.
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W
Hey Siri play me some Brian Eno songs but nothing too out there only the hits and could you also smooth over the emotional tension between BE and Brian Ferry in a way that’s polite but with a nice helping of suggestive “NDA-lite” energy while you are at it thanks
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A
Watched: on criterion. Watched the July release of Eno which was much more melancholic and focused on the artistic process and the give and take between audience. a line that stuck with me was “treat accidents as hidden intentions.”
- Synopsis
- Visionary musician and artist Brian Eno — known for producing David Bowie, U2, Talking Heads, among many others; pioneering the genre of ambient music; and releasing over 40 solo and collaboration albums — reveals his creative processes in this groundbreaking generative documentary: a film that’s different every time it’s shown.
- Director
- Gary Hustwit
- Studio
- Film First, Tigerlily Films, UK Global Screen Fund, Burns Park Media
- Country
- USA, UK
- Language
- English
- Year
- 2024
- Runtime
- 80 mins
- USA18 Jan 2024
- Canada29 Apr 2024
- UK16 Jun 2024
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