American director Ron Howard turns Richard Avedon’s restless life and iconic photography into a vivid portrait, moving between high-octane interviews, archival footage and stark black-and-white images. Its central appeal is the access it offers: a glimpse behind the photographs and into the mercurial mind that made them.
Ron Howard’s Avedon captures the life of the late American fashion photographer Richard Avedon through high-octane interviews and iconic photographs.
The film slows to adagio as black-and-white photographs fill the screen against a stark white background—Chaplin, Marilyn, The Beatles . . . elephants and fashion models, whose waving dresses resemble the pattern of the Sibelius Monument—and then the narrative is back at allegro again.
The film’s magic lies in the depth revealed by the interviewees’ anecdotes. Personality traits are accentuated with archival footage of Avedon’s poignant comments on his life and the craft.
Avedon feels like a three-dimensional photo exhibition, offering a glimpse behind the images; it’s a window into the mind of the photographer, who in most clips carries the wild look and enthusiasm of Dr. Emmet “Doc” Brown of the Back to the Future franchise.
Howard’s gripping and heartwarming films, including Rush, Splash and A Beautiful Mind, have moved viewers for decades.
His experience as a soulful depicter of the human condition shows here too. Howard is well attuned to what makes the story tick.
Avedon ticks.
Never tocks.
‘Avedon’ makes its Netflix debut on November 11.
FILM DETAILS
Title: Avedon
Production year: 2026
Director: Ron Howard
Director of photography: Robert Chappell
Music: David Fleming
Producers: Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Dallas Brennan
Rexer, Sara Bernstein, Christopher St. John, Justin Wilkes
Genre: Documentary
Runtime: 104 minutes
TONY ÖHBERG’S CUT is the founder’s personal film-review label for sharp, voice-driven takes on cinema, from wholehearted praise to outright rejection.