Oxford Film Festival 2010

For one hundred years, literally the entire history of American movies, critics have championed this medium they so unabashedly love. They began as consumer reporters, advising on which movies were important to see, and why. Over time their role evolved and they became an essential part of the film-going experience by challenging audiences to think more deeply – aesthetically, politically, spiritually, intellectually – about the cinema. But today, film criticism is a profession under siege. Within the construct of our dire economic crisis; and, as newspapers and magazines lose advertisers and pages by the week, film critics, both old and young, are losing jobs at an alarming rate: 28 reviewers have been fired or retired in the last several years, according to Variety. There’s also an intellectual crisis: as young Americans read less and less each year, and certainly read less seriously, film criticism is marginalized, and critics dismissed as pompous intellectuals, out of touch with everyday, blockbuster moviegoers. And yet, foreign films, documentaries, small independents depend, as ever, on learned reviewers to articulate their cause for an audience. What happens to alternative cinema if film critics vanish? Or if, as is increasingly true, the Internet becomes the place for all discourse about the cinema? Can thousands of movie websites, mostly amateur, substitute for the cultural influence of knowledgeable professional critics? In the midst of this cultural crisis, 'For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism,' the first documentary on this subject, explores these issues while tracing the little know but rich and sociologically fascinating history of film criticism. From the raw beginnings of criticism before 'The Birth of a Nation' to Bosley Crowther’s 27-year reign at 'The New York Times,' from the incendiary Kael-Sarris debates of the 1960s and 70s to the battle for audience between youthful on-liners and the print establishment, this documentary tells all.Produced by Amy Geller (PBS’s 'Murder at Harvard' and 'The War that Made America'), written and directed by veteran 'Boston Phoenix' critic Gerald Peary, 'For the Love of Movies' offers a unique insider’s view of the film critics’ profession, with commentary from America’s best-regarded reviewers, including Roger Ebert ('The Chicago Sun-Times'), A.O. Scott ('The New York Times'), Lisa Schwarzbaum ('Entertainment Weekly'), Kenneth Turan ('The Los Angeles Times'). We also hear from young, articulate, Internet voices, including Harry Knowles (ainitcoolnews.com) and Karina Longworth (spout.com).

Click here to read our "Take Five With" interview with the filmmaker.