Reviews

Click on media outlet to read the full review.

“Nothing short of riveting, excavating a strange, compelling story from the footnotes of history… The impressive breadth of archival footage manages to sidestep the era’s clichés, while Moore, who served more than 30 years of a life prison sentence, shows off her prime storytelling skills and occasionally some deft evasions. One of the 23 Best (and Most Anticipated) Documentaries of 2024.”

Lisa Wong Macabasco
Vogue

“‘Suburban Fury’ does that rare thing and offers a highly specific motivation for Moore’s infamous crime… Holds you with a kind of rapt tension.”

Owen Gleiberman
Variety

“Riveting. Bursting with the energy of the archives and the thrill of a narrator who can’t quite be trusted.”

Lovia Gyarke
The Hollywood Reporter

“A captivating documentary thriller. An incredibly cinematic and high-energy viewing experience.”

Olga Artemyva
Screen Anarchy

“Fascinating. Paints its subject as a microcosm for the country that produced her.”

David Ehrlich
IndieWire

“Devor’s meticulous recounting of Moore’s actions only deepens their mystery.”

Brad Hanford
Slant Magazine

“To the list of great documentaries rooted in interviews of a single person, such as Shirley Clarke’s ‘Portrait of Jason’ and Jean Eustache’s ’Numero Zero,’ add Robinson Devor’s ‘Suburban Fury.’ The loose threads of Moore’s life story suggest the elusiveness of identity itself… and contradictory goals of which a life is made—and the uncanny connections of intimate motives to the grand currents of history.”

Richard Brody
The New Yorker

“Moore is as much a person as she is a persona, a symbol. Through the camera’ gaze, she is a vehicle for cinematic exploration… Just as she constructs her myth, so did America create a mythos for its past. They reflect each other and “Suburban Fury” is the light caught between two mirrors face to face.”

Cláudio Alves
The Film Experience

“Riveting. [A] fascinating new documentary. Bursting with energy of the archives and the thrill of a narrator who can’t quite be trusted.”

Lovia Gyarke
The Hollywood Reporter

“‘An archival adventure, with stories and characters whirling in and out of focus… Devor avoids making Moore a mere talking head by interviewing her as she sits in a car, looking down across San Francisco, composing a wry visual metaphor for her journey to and from the penitentiary. The landscape around her seems graceful and orderly; this dizzying film reminds us that it was anything but.”

David D’Arcy
The Arts Fuse

“’Suburban Fury’ does that rare thing and offers a highly specific motivation for Moore’s infamous crime… Holds you with a kind of rapt tension.”

Owen Gleiberman
Variety

“Devor’s filming technique is very stylized with nods to the paranoid cinema of the 1970s… Fortunately Devor is not overly concerned with unveiling the “truth” but rather exploring Sara Jane Moore’s various influences along with the social and historical landscape of the time. Viewing the film through this lens is quite rewarding and even suggests some parallels with our contemporary political climate.”

Margaret Barton-Fumo
Alliance of Women Film Journalists

“One of the “23 Best (and Most Anticipated) Documentaries of 2024. Nothing short of riveting, excavating a strange, compelling story from the footnotes of history… The impressive breadth of archival footage manages to sidestep the era’s clichés, while Moore, who served more than 30 years of a life prison sentence, shows off her prime storytelling skills and occasionally some deft evasions.”

Lisa Wong Macabasco
Vogue

“It’s a fascinating historical story on the radicalized would-be presidential assassination suburban single mother Sara Jane Moore.“

Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

“A time capsule of 1970s San Francisco…. The film unfolds like a thriller.”

G. Allen Johnson
San Francisco Chronicle