Films

What is the crisis in film criticism? This short essay will examine the critic and his role in 20th century film criticism through analyzing various writings and essays. In J. Hoberman's essay "The Film Critic of Tomorrow, Today," the author raises several intriguing questions about film critics. Specifically he asks, what function today's critic plays in writing about film. By extension, what is the relation between film critics and films? Is the function of a …

…to the open market. Rosenberg states, "Judgments of success or failure cannot be surrendered to the market" (Rosenberg 167). Therefore if we are to return film criticism to its past glory, any threats to filmic criticism must not be tolerated. The critic, his values and his analysis should be absolute and never questioned, but this can only happen if the critical commentary is defined itself by values inherent in the subject matter and free from impartiality.