Bruce Sinofsky (March 31, 1956 – February 21, 2015) was an American documentary film director, particularly known for his films the Paradise Lost trilogy, Brother's Keeper and Some Kind of Monster, all created with Joe Berlinger. Sinofsky was born in Boston, Massachusetts. As Senior Editor for Maysles, he worked on commercials and feature films until 1991, when he and Joe Berlinger formed their own production company, Creative Thinking International. They jointly produce, edit, and direct documentary films which have appeared on over 50 critics choice lists, including Paradise Lost, Brother's Keeper, Hollywood High, and Some Kind of Monster. Their work is done in various styles, including a paen to the Cinéma vérité. Metallica: Some Kind of Monster covers the band as they participate in group therapy before recording their first album in five years. Paradise Lost chronicles the inhabitants of a small southern town a year after a series of brutal murders in style similar to that of award winning documentary filmmaker Errol Morris. They have also done a documentary on the southern record label for blues and country western artists, Sun Records called Good Rockin' Tonight. The first movie Sinofsky directed, in 1992, was the documentary My Brother's Keeper, which tells the story of Delbart Ward, an elderly man in Munnsville, New York, who was charged with second-degree murder following the death of his brother William. Chicago Tribune film critic Roger Ebert, in his review of the movie, called it "an extraordinary documentary about what happened next, as a town banded together to stop what folks saw as a miscarriage of justice." Sinofsky has won a Directors Guild Award and two Emmys.
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Biography from TMDB.
- March 31, 1956
- February 21, 2015 (aged 58)
- Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Director, producer, editor and actor
- 10 on MovieCove · 16 credits in all
Known for
What are Bruce Sinofsky's films like?
Across their 8 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Ideas and Morality.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 6
Light 1 · Serious 0 · Dark 5
Grounded 6 · Stylized 0 · Heightened 0
A split, not a type: Gentle 1 · Charged 1 · Intense 4
A split, not a type: Steady 3 · Shifting 2 · Whiplash 1
Straight-faced 5 · Some laughs 0 · Funny 1
Slow burn 3 · Even-paced 3 · Relentless 0
A split, not a type: Casual 1 · Engaged 2 · Full focus 3
Easy watch 1 · Affecting 0 · Heavy 5
A split, not a type: Resolved 2 · Open-ended 1 · Ambiguous 3
Moods and endings
- Bittersweet4
- Ambiguous4
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Bruce Sinofsky's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 5 of their 10 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Bruce Sinofsky's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
16 credits, 10 with a MovieCove page.
Midcredits score: 65th percentile of all films
Very Semi-Serious(2015)
Midcredits score: 81st percentile of all films
Devil's Knot(2013)
Midcredits score: 42nd percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all films
Montclair (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2007)
Addiction(2007)
Midcredits score: 49th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 23rd percentile of all shows (provisional, few ratings)
Iconoclasts(2005)
Midcredits score: 67th percentile of all shows
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all films
Good Rockin' Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2001)
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 99th percentile of all films
Brother's Keeper (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1992)
Terminal Bliss (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1992)
Outrageous Taxi Stories (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1989)
American Playhouse (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1982)
Career shape
A full career of 13 titles from 1982 to 2016.
Biggest box office
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004)
Highest rated
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996)
Most popular right now
Iconoclasts (2005)
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
How do Bruce Sinofsky's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 87th percentile, the median of all 8; across their 6 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 89th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up5
- 50th to 74th2
- 25th to 49th2
- Below 25th1
Shape of the crowd
4 of their 10 titles are Universally Loved.
- Universally Loved4
- Crowd Pleaser2
- Broadly Agreed1
- Mixed3
Reviewers score the atmosphere 77/100 and the pacing 45/100 in their films, across 5 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a director.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Bruce Sinofsky work with?
People who share at least 2 of Bruce Sinofsky's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Joe Berlinger shares the most, 7.
Directors
- Joe BerlingerShared titles: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2011), Addiction (2007), Ten Days That Unexpectedly Changed America (2006), Iconoclasts (2005), Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004), Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (2000), Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996)See all 7 shared titles with Joe Berlinger
- Kate DavisShared titles: Addiction (2007), Ten Days That Unexpectedly Changed America (2006)See all 2 shared titles with Kate Davis
Actors
- Damien Wayne EcholsShared titles: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2011), Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996)See all 2 shared titles with Damien Wayne Echols
- Jason BaldwinShared titles: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2011), Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996)See all 2 shared titles with Jason Baldwin
- Jessie MisskelleyShared titles: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2011), Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996)See all 2 shared titles with Jessie Misskelley
Cinematographers and editors
- Robert RichmanShared titles: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2011), Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004), Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (2000), Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996)See all 4 shared titles with Robert Richman
- M. Watanabe MilmoreShared titles: Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004), Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (2000)See all 2 shared titles with M. Watanabe Milmore
Producers
- Michael BonfiglioShared titles: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2011), Addiction (2007), Ten Days That Unexpectedly Changed America (2006), Iconoclasts (2005), Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004), Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (2000)See all 6 shared titles with Michael Bonfiglio
- Sheila NevinsShared titles: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2011), Addiction (2007), Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (2000), Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996)See all 4 shared titles with Sheila Nevins
- Frank SchermaShared titles: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2011), Iconoclasts (2005), Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004)See all 3 shared titles with Frank Scherma
- Jon KamenShared titles: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2011), Iconoclasts (2005), Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004)See all 3 shared titles with Jon Kamen
Mixed roles
- Rachel DawsonShared titles: Ten Days That Unexpectedly Changed America (2006), Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004)See all 2 shared titles with Rachel Dawson