For as long as there have been movies, there have been people who devoted their lives to writing about them. It takes love, passion and time to forge criteria and attention for the seventh art. Film critics and theorists have played a vital role in the movie world for more than a century, as their words have filled movie seats (or not), spawned (or ended) careers, and become forever linked to the films they refer to.
While some go to film school or start out as actors or other roles in film production, some of history’s most renowned filmmakers started out as critics, and through their studies and countless hours of film watching, they eventually became creators themselves. However you feel about them, film critics and theorists are crucial to the development of film and to society’s awareness of them. These 10 critics (in alphabetical order) stand out from the crowd because their influence and work are valuable to life and film to this day.
Andre Bazin
What is cinema? is still arguably the most important book on movies, and its author, Andre Bazin, is responsible for film criticism as it is today. The co-founder of Cahiers Du Cinema is one of the most respected names when it comes to filmmaking and film theory.
Bazin’s extensive essays on the importance of realism, and why films evoke so many emotions and even influence everyday life, are cornerstones for film schools around the world. Without Bazin there would be little critical awareness about films, and therefore no film criticism as we know it today.
Peter Bogdanovich
The much missed Peter Bogdanovich was not only one of the key figures in the New Hollywood movement, but he was also one of the most important film critics and historians of all time. As a child, he kept track of all the movies he saw on an index card with a review of each movie, a practice he would continue for nearly 20 years.
He averaged nearly four hundred films a year, a passion that drove him to be part of film programming teams at institutions such as New York’s Museum of Modern Art, film critic at Cahiers Du Cinema, and writer of many important films. books on film history and in-depth interviews with directors such as Alfred Hitchcock. Of course, Bogdanovich’s film career was also formidable, in which classics such as The latest photo show or Paper moon excel.
Peter Bradshaw
For more than twenty years, The Guardian’s film section has contained the precise writings of Peter Bradshaw. After spending most of the 1990s as a columnist for the Evening Standard, he began working as chief film critic for The Guardian in 1999, and has since established himself as one of the most trusted and respected modern critics.
At a time when reviewers have received backlash from actors just for doing their job, Bradshaw is among those raising the flag for continuity and interest from film critics.
Manolla Dargis
The acclaimed critic and author is a leading film writer for The New York Times and a five-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Take a look at Manolla Dargiseach year’s best movie list gives you an idea of what an eclectic and interesting mind is at work here.
Her cultivated and beautifully written work graces the paper’s Arts section week after week, from underground arthouse cinemas to mainstream Hollywood blockbusters. As an author, she has written books about the role of women in cinema throughout history.
Roger Everett
Loved, feared and hated, his name is synonymous with film criticism. Roger Everett is the undisputed best-known film critic of all time. His work at the Chicago Tribune and on PBS introduced the “thumbs up/thumbs down” ranking that has become a staple of cinema, and his opinion would become a deciding factor in whether audiences would swarm to a theater, or wouldn’t even care. to appear.
In 1975, he became the first film critic to receive a Pulitzer Prize, and despite the relevance of his opinion, he was not as tough as the mythology that has built around his work. A staple of his was including witty personal anecdotes in his reviews, which also earned him sympathy for thousands of readers. His death in 2013 left a void in the film world that can be felt to this day.
Pauline Kel
No one, absolutely no one, had expected that Pauline Kel to be the… subject of Quentin Tarantino’s latest film, and yet it feels so appropriate. Hopefully, Tarantino’s love of film and its history will make Kael a well-known and beloved figure to more than just the film community, to which Kael is a sacred figure as relevant as any of the films she wrote about.
Her almost autobiographical approach to criticism set her apart from the academic mold of earlier critics and forever changed the way film was written about. She was known for being unapologetic, unafraid of arguments, and a champion of films that were often discarded by most critics, and conversely, a critic of widely loved films.
Dily Powell
Lists of all-time greatest film critics owe a historic debt to female critics, who have been just as good and important as men throughout history. Most feature only Pauline Kael, leaving behind the legacy of critical icons such as Dily Powell.
Powell worked for The Sunday Times for over 50 years and was one of the 20th century critics most open to social and cultural change. This is due to her tireless travel and hunger for understanding foreign cultures, which allowed her to write extensively and incredibly well.
Dan Sallitt
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The love of film is hopefully what drives one to become more closely involved with the art form; that love is felt in every piece of writing Dan Sallittwhich has been beautifully translated into his film work as a writer and director.
One of the world’s most underrated critics and filmmakers has been at it for over four decades and thankfully his work has gained more recognition from the film community in recent years. His writing has been featured on MUBI, The Village Voice, Slate and other famous outlets, while his films, brilliant since 2012 The unspeakable deed, have appeared at various film festivals.
Paul Schrader
Paul Schrader is best known as a great screenwriter and director, but he is also one of the filmmakers who has recognized and championed the importance of film studies and criticism in the development of the art form. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he became a film critic and published the famous book Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer before he was even 30.
In the mid-1970s, he transitioned into screenwriting and directing, a career that has spanned half a century (most recently with the mystery film Master Gardener) could have easily left out the critical review of films, but he has always had it so present that he continues to share his views to this day on his Facebook page.
Francois Truffaut
No one has quite bridged the gap between European and American cinema Francois Truffaut. He would go on to make some of the most important movies of the 20th century, while still being able to understand and appreciate why someone like Steven Spielberg made the movies he did. His dedication to the seventh art was evident from the start of his career through his harsh but impassioned reviews for Cahiers Du Cinema in the 1950s.
As a writer, he is best remembered for his 1954 call to arms, “A Certain Trend in French Cinema”, which is today seen as partly responsible for igniting the French New Wave. He is also responsible for the development of the ‘author theory’, which places the director as the main creative force behind films, taking as an example Hitchcock, with whom he would develop an endearing friendship. His book, Hitchcock/Truffautwas turned into a 2015 movie, it was so influential.