Sightlines · reception

How Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie was received

2026 · Alex Gibney · Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie on Sightlines

The arc

Premiered at Sundance in January 2026, then opened theatrically at New York's IFC Center on September 17 via Abramorama, landing at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes from 34 critics and an 81 on Metacritic, squarely in the magazine-cover register of 'universal acclaim.'

What’s debated

Critics agree it works but split on what it is: an intimate recovery-and-love story told with vibrancy and humor, or a portrait too narrow for its subject, with The Wire's reviewer calling the scope thin and several critics citing the classic-film-clip montage as the formal misstep.

Its footprint

The Wire's headline shorthand, thin in scope but "quietly defiant," captures how the film circulates: less as a Rushdie biography than as a survival document, with Sundance coverage framing it as a love-over-violence story for a politically unsettled moment.

Where it stands

It is weeks into release, so its standing is simply this: a near-unanimously praised entry in Alex Gibney's documentary run, with no prizes or year-end lists yet to cite.

Did you know? Rushdie's wife, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, began filming his recovery just five days after the attack and is credited as the film's cinematographer; Rushdie says the couple first considered making the film themselves before deciding they needed, in his words, a really brilliant filmmaker, and approaching Gibney.

A Deleuzian reading of Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie →