"Critic's Pick. Shows a kinship with 'Hoop Dreams' and 'Boyhood' in the way it makes subtle and powerful use of the passage of time. The movie’s quiet eloquence invites you to reflect on what it means to belong to a family and a place, and also on the nature of citizenship at a time of political polarization."
- A.O. Scott, The New York Times

"One of the Year's Best Docs! Late in the film, the voice that haunts us all speaks from the Raineys’ TV: 'To the African Americans,' Donald Trump says, 'What the hell do you have to lose?' Christine’a snaps back at the TV: 'You don’t know how we live!' Send him this tender, humane, gently probing film as a start."
- Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice

"There are biographical documentaries, fortunate to the point of being blessed, that start as fly-on-the-wall journalism and luck into better-than-fiction narrative twists. The remarkable Quest is one of them."
- Gary Thompson, Philadelphia Inquirer

"Quest may be one of the few films to locate a story of heartland America in some of the country’s most notoriously crime-ridden urban neighborhoods. And it does so, jarringly and beautifully."
- Rebecca Bengal, Vogue.com

"A living, breathing, stunning documentary study of an African-American family in North Philadelphia weathering a tumultuous decade."
- Guy Lodge, Variety

"Class and race intersect meaningfully in the wonderful Quest."
- Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

"Radiant...Olshefski discovers an everyday American story of extraordinary strength."
- Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times

"Best Docs of 2017 - #4! Devoid of any political posturing or editorial agenda, Quest is a jarring and gentle testament to the powers of family and individual kindness."
- Duane Byrge, The Hollywood Reporter

"Extraordinary...the film feels intimate and yet at the same time vast. It has a relaxed pace, but an intensity of focus."
- Sheila O' Malley, RogerEbert.com

"A beautiful film...evokes the peerless 'Hoop Dreams' and qualifies as a sort of longitudinal study. But there's nothing academic about it. To the contrary, Quest is intimate, warm yet unsentimental and agreeably rambling."
- Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

"A moving, quite amazing documentary...Quest has a spirit of peaceful resilience, and the result is a beautiful, quietly observant film of family love and strength."
- G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicles

"Quest is the type of independent film about American life that should be common but is rare in actuality. Christopher, Christine'a, and P.J. are beautiful to watch together, and there's hope in witnessing them persevere."
- Scott Tobias, National Public Radio

"A rich and rewarding movie. One of the year's best documentaries...a gift."
- David Fear, Rolling Stone

"A story of tremendous resilience...succeeds far beyond even the most ambitious cinema vérité, capturing the essence of these neighborhoods."
- Rob Buscher, Broad Street Review

"Recalls Steve James' Hoop Dreams in both the way it captures people over a long period of a time and in how it finds the profound in the everyday, the universal in the specific."
- Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

"Quest is further proof that the Steve James model of long-term filming commitments pays big dramatic dividends."
- A.V. Club

"[four stars] Intimate, moving...a quietly powerful political statement."
- Helen O'Hara, Time Out New York

"A sweeping and intimate documentary about the struggles of an average American family."
- Jude Dry, Indiewire

"Quest may be one of the most important films about the American experience ever filmed."
- Jason Gorber, POV Magazine

"Director Jonathan Olshefski's debut documentary feature, Quest, is one of those impressive character profiles filmed over many years that unite filmmaker and subject in such intimate harmony that we lose all sense of watching anything other than objective reality. Such a fly-on-the-wall quality is hard to achieve, yet both Olshefski and the Raineys - an African-American family in North Philadelphia with whom he spent almost a decade - appear to have grown so comfortable with each other that we forget the presence of the camera. Yes, we're obviously watching a movie, but Quest has a raw urgency and power that removes the barrier between the viewer and the observed. Even more impressive is how Olshefski has edited his material down to a brisk 100 minutes, crafting a tight story about race, class and family that is a brilliant evocation of the triumph of hope over despair. A beautiful tale, beautifully told. Watch it, and be transformed."
- Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Hammer to Nail

Selected as one of Artform's 10 Best Films of 2017