Fiction, I’d argue, best captures the universal, while documentary—like journalism—details the specific. If Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets is a singular achievement, it’s in the way the movie manages to do a little bit of both.

Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets’ vérité style belies a quasi-staged reality that challenges the distinction between fiction and documentary, studying the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of the world.

Christopher Machell

CineVue

It’s in certain characters’ trajectories that the Ross brothers locate the tragic soul of the bar.

Carson Lund

Slant Magazine