‘Avedon’ Review: Ron Howard’s Thrilling Documentary About Richard Avedon, the Great Photographer Who Turned Head-On Portraits Into an Art Form

"Avedon," Ron Howard’s documentary about the legendary photographer, is a fantastic movie. It’s the best documentary Ron Howard has made (my favorite before this: "The Beatles: Eight Days a Week — The Touring Years"), and it’s been edited in a way that’s so supple and artful that

"Avedon," Ron Howard’s documentary about the legendary photographer, is a fantastic movie. It’s the best documentary Ron Howard has made (my favorite before this: "The Beatles: Eight Days a Week — The Touring Years"), and it’s been edited in a way that’s so supple and artful that its technique should be studied in filmmaking classes. (The film’s editor is Andrew Morreale.) Woven through the movie are hundreds of images that were shot by Richard Avedon, and there’s no question that the images are stunning, but the way the movie layers them into your consciousness is nearly musical in its finesse.

And that helps to tell the very large story that "Avedon" is telling: how Richard Avedon changed photography in a way that shifted how we see the world.