Quickcard Review
For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism
Directed by: Gerald Peary Cast: Roger Ebert, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Molly Haskell Running Time: 1 hr 20 min Rating: unrated
COMPLETE COVERAGE - 33rd Portland International Film Festival Country: United States
PLOT: The history of film criticism, specifically in the United States, is examined with appearances by pretty much every major film critic working today.
WHO'S IT FOR? The title should tell you if you want to see the film. If you read film reviews and want to know more about the people behind them, you'll probably be interested in this film. So, since you're reading this ...
OVERALL
Like an 80-minute survey class in Film Criticism, For the Love of Movies covers a lot of ground very briefly without delving too much into any one person or era. The film is structured linearly, examining various eras of films and how critics reacted to and influenced them. Some of the statements about early film criticism are interesting, but it tends to be brief and without getting to actually read full reviews, it's hard to really compare it to the sorts of reviews that are written today. Later they get into Pauline Kael and her relationship with Andrew Sarris, which was pretty interesting. Basically, he was a devotee to the auteur theory and she railed against it, basically calling him a pansy. Kael sounds like such a fascinating person, I wish she could have been interviewed for this. The clips they used just made me more interested, I'd like to see a whole film devoted to her. Despite the fact the auteur theory was touched on, it really wasn't examined. I'm really not a huge fan of it myself, so I would have liked to see more talk about it. For those who don't know, it's the theory that a film's director is the primary source of vision. That kind of leaves out the various artists who participate in all levels of a film's creation. But again, it's just a small section of the film.
My favorite bits were the areas where established critics talked about their experiences becoming critics and why they love film. Molly Haskell talks about seeing Diabolique (the 1955 French version) and being scared out of her mind when the body rose from the bath. Elvis Mitchell had a similar experience with the film Two Thousand Maniacs. But I think it's more than fear, it's about being made to feel so strongly by something that's not real. It's a profound and addictive feeling, one the film touches on, but not strongly enough.
During the screening at the film festival, local film critics, including Shawn Levy and Eric D. Snider will be involved in a Q&A afterward. If you do get a chance to go, I recommend staying and asking them about their experiences as critics.
FINAL SCORE: 6/10