Ali (2001)

By Cynthia Fuchs

Ali embodies a kind of car-wreck charisma -- arrogant and self-conscious, beautiful and fierce, even on twenty-year-old tape, he can take your breath away. This ability to mesmerize makes Ali who he is, or more accurately, who everyone wants him to be. He's a cipher and a screen onto which viewers might project themselves. [24 December 2001]