fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
written and directed by
Leos Carax
Alex Christophe Dupont (born 22 November 1960), best known as Leos Carax (), is a French film director, critic and writer. Carax is noted for his poetic style and his tortured depictions of love. His first major work was ''Boy Meets Girl (1984 f ...
and starring
Denis Lavant
Denis Lavant (born 17 June 1961) is a French actor. He is known for his distinctive face and the physically demanding aspects of the roles he plays, which often involve slapstick, acrobatics or dance, as well as for his long-standing association w ...
and
Ădith Scob
Ădith Scob (21 October 1937 â 26 June 2019) was a French film and theatre actress, best known for her role as the daughter with a disfigured face in '' Eyes Without a Face'' (1960).
Early life and family
Scob was born Ădith Helena Vladimirov ...
. Lavant plays Mr. Oscar, a man who appears to have a job as an actor, as he is seen dressing up in different costumes and performing various roles in several locations around Paris over the course of a day, though no cameras or audiences are ever seen around him. The film competed for the
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
at the
2012 Cannes Film Festival
The 65th Cannes Film Festival was held from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian film director Nanni Moretti was the President of the Jury for the main competition and British actor Tim Roth was the President of the Jury for the Un Certain Regard section. ...
.
Plot
A man wakes up and finds a secret door in his apartment. He opens it and wanders into a movie theater full of sleeping patrons. A naked child and several dogs wander the aisles.
Meanwhile, in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 kmÂČ (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
motion capture
Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...
suit and enters an empty
sound stage
A sound stage (also written soundstage) is a soundproof, large structure, building, or room with large doors and high ceilings, used for the production of theatrical film-making and television productions, usually located on a secured movie or ...
, where he performs action sequences while being directed by an unseen man. A woman in a motion capture suit enters, and the pair perform movements that are used to create a sex scene between animated snakelike creatures.
* plays the role of Monsieur Merde, an eccentric and violent red-haired man who lives in the sewers and kidnaps a beautiful model called Kay M. from a photo shoot in a cemetery.
* plays a father who picks up his daughter from a party in an old red car. They argue when the daughter reveals she spent the party hiding in the bathroom instead of socializing.
* (as an interlude) plays a song on the accordion in a church with an ever-growing group of musicians.
* plays a gangster assigned to murder a man who looks identical to him. After he has stabbed the man in the neck and carved scars into the man's face that match his own, the victim suddenly stabs Oscar in the neck. Oscar manages to limp his way back to the limousine, seemingly severely injured. While Oscar is removing his makeup, a man with a
port-wine stain
A port-wine stain (''nevus flammeus'') is a discoloration of the human skin caused by a vascular anomaly (a capillary malformation in the skin). They are so named for their coloration, which is similar in color to port wine, a fortified red win ...
barbed wire
A close-up view of a barbed wire
Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire
Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. Its primary use is t ...
Denis Lavant
Denis Lavant (born 17 June 1961) is a French actor. He is known for his distinctive face and the physically demanding aspects of the roles he plays, which often involve slapstick, acrobatics or dance, as well as for his long-standing association w ...
as Mr. Oscar / The Banker / The Beggar / The Motion Capture Actor / Monsieur Merde / The Father / The Accordionist / The Killer / The Killed / The Dying / The Man at Home
*
Ădith Scob
Ădith Scob (21 October 1937 â 26 June 2019) was a French film and theatre actress, best known for her role as the daughter with a disfigured face in '' Eyes Without a Face'' (1960).
Early life and family
Scob was born Ădith Helena Vladimirov ...
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...
Michel Piccoli
Jacques Daniel Michel Piccoli (27 December 1925 â 12 May 2020) was a French actor, producer and film director with a career spanning 70 years. He was lauded as one of the greatest French character actors of his generation who played a wide vari ...
as The Man with a Birthmark
*
Leos Carax
Alex Christophe Dupont (born 22 November 1960), best known as Leos Carax (), is a French film director, critic and writer. Carax is noted for his poetic style and his tortured depictions of love. His first major work was ''Boy Meets Girl (1984 f ...
as The Sleeper
Production
Development
Before the production of ''Holy Motors'', Carax had tried to fund a big English-language film for five years. Financiers were reluctant to invest, so Carax, whose previous feature film was ''
Pola X
''Pola X'' is a 1999 drama film directed by Leos Carax and starring Guillaume Depardieu, Yekaterina Golubeva and Catherine Deneuve. The film is loosely based on the Herman Melville novel '' Pierre: or, The Ambiguities''. It revolves around a young ...
'' in 1999, decided to make a smaller French-language film first, with the aim of regaining prominence in international cinema. Taking inspiration from the omnibus ''
Tokyo!
''Tokyo!'' is a 2008 anthology film containing three segments written by three non-Japanese directors, all of which were filmed in Tokyo, Japan. Michel Gondry directed "Interior Design", Leos Carax directed "Merde", and Bong Joon-ho directed "Sha ...
'', for which he had made a commissioned
short film
A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
(''Merde'', which featured the original appearance of the character Monsieur Merde), he wrote a cheap film intended for his regular collaborator
Denis Lavant
Denis Lavant (born 17 June 1961) is a French actor. He is known for his distinctive face and the physically demanding aspects of the roles he plays, which often involve slapstick, acrobatics or dance, as well as for his long-standing association w ...
. Carax was able to sway potential investors concerned with the film's budget by switching to digital photography, a process of which he strongly disapproves.
The spark for the film came from Carax's observation that stretch limousines were being increasingly used for weddings. He was interested in their bulkiness, saying: "They're outdated, like the old futurist toys of the past. I think they mark the end of an era, the era of large, visible machines." From that grew an idea for a film about the increasing digitalisation of society, a science-fiction scenario where organisms and visible machines share a common superfluity. The opening scene was inspired by the
E. T. A. Hoffmann
Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (born Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann; 24 January 1776 â 25 June 1822) was a German Romantic author of fantasy and Gothic horror, a jurist, composer, music critic and artist. Penrith Goff, "E.T.A. Hoffmann" in E ...
novella ''Don Juan'', about a man who discovers a secret door in his bedroom that leads to an opera house.
''Holy Motors'' was produced through Pierre Grise Productions for a budget of âŹ3.9 million, which included money from the
CNC
Numerical control (also computer numerical control, and commonly called CNC) is the automated control of machining tools (such as drills, lathes, mills, grinders, routers and 3D printers) by means of a computer. A CNC machine processes a ...
Arte France
Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture.
It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plus ...
,
Canal+
Canal+ (Canal Plus, , meaning 'Channel Plus'; sometimes abbreviated C+ or Canal) is a French premium television channel launched in 1984. It is 100% owned by the Groupe Canal+, which in turn is owned by Vivendi. The channel broadcasts several ki ...
Of the lead role, Carax said: "If Denis had said no, I would have offered the part to
Lon Chaney
Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 â August 26, 1930) was an American actor. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and affli ...
or to
Chaplin Chaplin may refer to:
People
* Charlie Chaplin (1889â1977), English comedy film actor and director
* Chaplin (name), other people named Chaplin
Films
* '' Unknown Chaplin'' (1983)
* ''Chaplin'' (film) (1992)
* ''Chaplin'' (2011 film), Ben ...
. Or to
Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre (; born LĂĄszlĂł Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 â March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, first in Europe and later in the United States. He began his stage career in Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before movin ...
or
Michel Simon
Michel Simon (; 9 April 1895 â 30 May 1975) was a Swiss-French actor. He appeared in many notable French films, including ''La Chienne'' (1931), ''Boudu Saved from Drowning'' (1932), ''L'Atalante'' (1934), '' Port of Shadows'' (1938), '' The H ...
, all of whom are dead."
Ădith Scob
Ădith Scob (21 October 1937 â 26 June 2019) was a French film and theatre actress, best known for her role as the daughter with a disfigured face in '' Eyes Without a Face'' (1960).
Early life and family
Scob was born Ădith Helena Vladimirov ...
had previously worked with Carax on ''
Les Amants du Pont-Neuf
''Les Amants du Pont-Neuf'' () is a 1991 French film directed by Leos Carax, starring Juliette Binoche and Denis Lavant. The film follows a love story between two young vagrants: Alex, a would be circus performer addicted to alcohol and sedatives ...
'', but was then almost entirely cut out, so Carax felt he owed her a larger role. He also thought ''Holy Motors'' was indebted to
Georges Franju
Georges Franju (; 12 April 1912 – 5 November 1987) was a French filmmaker. He was born in FougĂšres, Ille-et-Vilaine.
Biography Early life
Before working in French cinema, Franju held several different jobs. These included working for an i ...
's '' Eyes Without a Face'', in which Scob starred, and decided to give an explicit nod to the film by casting her.
The character Kay M. came from a canceled project that was supposed to star Lavant and
Kate Moss
Katherine Ann Moss (born 16 January 1974) is a British model. Arriving at the end of the "supermodel era", Moss rose to fame in the early 1990s as part of the heroin chic fashion trend. Her collaborations with Calvin Klein brought her to fas ...
and follow the Merde character from ''Tokyo!'' in the United States.
was offered the role after she and Carax met at a film festival and agreed to make a film together.
Carax discovered
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...
after
Claire Denis
Claire Denis (; born 21 April 1946) is a French film director and screenwriter. Her feature film ''Beau Travail'' (1999) has been called one of the greatest films of the 1990s, as well as of all time. Other acclaimed works include '' Trouble Ev ...
suggested her for a canceled project.
Michel Piccoli
Jacques Daniel Michel Piccoli (27 December 1925 â 12 May 2020) was a French actor, producer and film director with a career spanning 70 years. He was lauded as one of the greatest French character actors of his generation who played a wide vari ...
's role was originally intended for Carax himself, but he decided it would be misleading to cast a filmmaker. When Piccoli was cast, the idea was to make him unrecognizable and credit him under a pseudonym, but news of his casting reached the media, so that plan was dropped.
Filming and post-production
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
took place in Paris. Filming started in September 2011 and ended in November.
The music in the film includes Minogue performing the song "Who Were We?" by Carax and
Neil Hannon
Edward Neil Anthony Hannon (born 7 November 1970) is a Northern Irish singer and songwriter. He is the creator and front man of the chamber pop group The Divine Comedy, and is the band's sole constant member. Hannon wrote the theme tunes for t ...
, as well as
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...
Godzilla
is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film ''Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films produc ...
''. There are also songs by
Sparks
Sparks may refer to:
Places
*Sparks, Georgia
* Sparks, Kansas
*Sparks, Kentucky
*Sparks, Maryland
* Sparks, Nebraska
*Sparks, Nevada
*Sparks, Oklahoma
*Sparks, Texas
* Sparks, Bell County, Texas
* Sparks, West Virginia
Books
* ''Sparks'' (Raffi ...
R. L. Burnside
R. L. Burnside (November 23, 1926 â September 1, 2005) was an American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He played music for much of his life but received little recognition before the early 1990s. In the latter half of that decade, Bur ...
.
Release
The film premiered on 23 May 2012 in competition at the
65th Cannes Film Festival
The 65th Cannes Film Festival was held from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian film director Nanni Moretti was the President of the Jury for the main competition and British actor Tim Roth was the President of the Jury for the Un Certain Regard section. ...
, after which ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' reported that the screening was met with "whooping and hollering" and "a storm of critical excitement on
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
". It was released in France on 4 July 2012 through
Les Films du Losange
Les films du losange is a film production company founded by Barbet Schroeder and Ăric Rohmer in 1962. The company funds and distributes many films from the French nouvelle vague era, directed by Rohmer, Schroeder, Roger Planchon, Jacques Rivett ...
.
Reception
Critical Reception
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 92% based on 196 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10; the website's critical consensus reads: "Mesmerizingly strange and willfully perverse, ''Holy Motors'' offers an unforgettable visual feast alongside a spellbinding â albeit unapologetically challenging â narrative." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a weighted average of score of 84/100 based on 34 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''.
Early life and education
Bradshaw was educated at Haberdashers ...
of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' rated the film five out of five and wrote: "Leos Carax's ''Holy Motors'' is weird and wonderful, rich and strange â barking mad, in fact. It is wayward, kaleidoscopic, black comic and bizarre; there is in it a batsqueak of genius, dishevelment and derangement; it is captivating and compelling. ... is is what we have all come to Cannes for: for something different, experimental, a tilting at windmills, a great big pole-vault over the barrier of normality by someone who feels that the possibilities of cinema have not been exhausted by conventional realist drama." He later named it one of the year's 10 best films.
Robbie Collin
Robbie Collin is a British film critic.
Collin studied aesthetics and the philosophy of film at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He edited the university's student newspaper, '' The Saint''.
Collin has been the chief film critic at ''The D ...
of ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'' gave the film five stars, writing: "It is a film about the stuff of cinema itself, and is perhaps the strongest contender for the Palme dâOr yet." On his "Views From The Edge" blog, Spencer Hawken wrote: "''Holy Motors'' is a mind-boggling movie, with oodles of character; itâs funny, emotional, and surprising. It has images that will stay in your head, most notably the accordion interlude, which comes completely out of nowhere, and really takes things up a gear." William Goss of Film.com wrote: "In terms of pure cinematic sensation, ''Holy Motors'' stands as one of the most delightfully enigmatic movies that I've seen in quite some time."
Manohla Dargis
Manohla June Dargis () is an American film critic. She is one of the chief film critics for ''The New York Times''. She is a five-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.
Career
Before being a film critic for ''The New York Times'', ...
of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called ''Holy Motors'' one of 2012's 10 best films.
The film placed fourth on ''
Sight & Sound
''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...
''s critics' poll of the best films of 2012, third on ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
''s annual poll of film critics, and first on both ''
Film Comment
''Film Comment'' is the official publication of Film at Lincoln Center. It features reviews and analysis of mainstream, art-house, and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world. Founded in 1962 and originally released as a quarterly, ''Film Co ...
''s and ''
Indiewire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...
''s year-end film critics' polls. French film magazine ''
'' also named ''Holy Motors'' the best film of the year. In 2016, it was chosen as the 16th-greatest film of the 21st century by a worldwide group of critics polled by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
.
Best lists
''Holy Motors'' was on numerous critics' and publications' lists of the best films of 2012.
* 1st â Michael Sicinski
* 1st â ''
Les Inrockuptibles
''Les Inrockuptibles'' () is a French cultural magazine. Started as a monthly magazine in 1986, it became weekly in 1995. Now it is a monthly again, since 2021. In the beginning, rock music was the magazine's primary focus, though every issue in ...
''
* 1st â Matt Singer, ''
IndieWire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...
IndieWire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...
''
* 1st â
Richard Brody
Richard Brody (born 1958) is an American film critic who has written for ''The New Yorker'' since 1999.
Education
Brody grew up in Roslyn, New York, and attended Princeton University, receiving a B.A. in comparative literature in 1980. He first ...
, ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
IndieWire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...
''
* 1st â ''
Film Comment
''Film Comment'' is the official publication of Film at Lincoln Center. It features reviews and analysis of mainstream, art-house, and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world. Founded in 1962 and originally released as a quarterly, ''Film Co ...
''
* 1st â
Mike D'Angelo
Mike D'Angelo (born April 9, 1968) is an American film critic. He has written reviews for ''The A.V. Club'', ''Las Vegas Weekly'' and ''Nerve'', and maintains a personal website, The Man Who Viewed Too Much. He lives near Los Angeles.
One of th ...
, ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
Fandor
Fandor is a film streaming service, dedicated to independent films, documentaries, international titles, and classics, and is a division of the American entertainment company, Cinedigm. Relaunched in 2021, Fandor offers thousands of films, rang ...
Fandor
Fandor is a film streaming service, dedicated to independent films, documentaries, international titles, and classics, and is a division of the American entertainment company, Cinedigm. Relaunched in 2021, Fandor offers thousands of films, rang ...
Fandor
Fandor is a film streaming service, dedicated to independent films, documentaries, international titles, and classics, and is a division of the American entertainment company, Cinedigm. Relaunched in 2021, Fandor offers thousands of films, rang ...
''
* 2nd â
Andrew O'Hehir
Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew". The word is derived ...
, ''
Salon
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments
* French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home
* Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment
Arts and entertainment
* Salon (P ...
''
* 2nd â
Karina Longworth
Karina Longworth (born July 10, 1980) is an American film critic, author, and journalist based in Los Angeles. Longworth writes, hosts and produces the podcast ''You Must Remember This'', about the "secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywoo ...
, ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
''
* 2nd â ''
Slant
Slant can refer to:
Bias
*Bias or other non- objectivity in journalism, politics, academia or other fields
Technical
* Slant range, in telecommunications, the line-of-sight distance between two points which are not at the same level
*Slant d ...
Slant
Slant can refer to:
Bias
*Bias or other non- objectivity in journalism, politics, academia or other fields
Technical
* Slant range, in telecommunications, the line-of-sight distance between two points which are not at the same level
*Slant d ...
''
* 3rd â
Bilge Ebiri
Bilge Ebiri (; born 1973) is an English-born American journalist and filmmaker. His first feature film, a comedy thriller entitled ''New Guy'', was released in 2004.
Early life and education
Ebiri studied film at Yale University where his thesis ...
, ''They live by night''
* 3rd â ''
Cinema Scope
''Cinema Scope'' is an English-language film magazine published in Toronto, Canada.
History and profile
''Cinema Scope'' has been published since 1999 with articles on world cinema. The magazine has compiled a list of the top 10 films of each ...
''
* 4th â
Manohla Dargis
Manohla June Dargis () is an American film critic. She is one of the chief film critics for ''The New York Times''. She is a five-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.
Career
Before being a film critic for ''The New York Times'', ...
, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
''
* 5th â
Ty Burr
Ty Burr (born August 17, 1957) is an American film critic, columnist, and author who currently writes a film and popular culture newsletter "Ty Burr's Watchlist" on Substack. Burr previously served as film critic at ''The Boston Globe'' for two ...
, ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
''
* 5th â
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''.
Early life and education
Bradshaw was educated at Haberdashers ...
, ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''
* 5th â Noel Murray, ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
''
* 7th â Sean Burns, ''
Philadelphia Weekly
''Philadelphia Weekly'' (''PW'') is a website based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a newspaper in 1971 as ''The Welcomat'', a sister publication to the ''South Philadelphia Press''. In 1995, the paper became ''Philadelphia Weekl ...
The Chicago Reader
The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ĐŻEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by ...
''
* 8th â
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris (born 1975) is an American film critic and podcast host. He is currently critic-at-large for ''The New York Times'', as well as co-host, with Jenna Wortham, of the ''New York Times'' podcast '' Still Processing.'' Previously, Morr ...
, ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
''
* Top 8 (unranked) â
Anthony Lane
Anthony Lane is a British journalist who is a film critic for ''The New Yorker'' magazine.
Career Education and early career
Lane attended Sherborne School and graduated with a degree in English from Trinity College, Cambridge, where he also ...
, ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
''
* 9th â ''
The L Magazine
''The L Magazine'' was a free bi-weekly magazine in New York City featuring investigative articles, arts and culture commentary, and event listings. It was available through distribution in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Hoboken.
History
''Th ...
''
* 9th â
Glenn Kenny
Glenn Kenny (born August 8, 1959) is an American film critic and journalist. He writes for ''The New York Times'' and '' RogerEbert.com''.
Biography
Kenny attended William Paterson University, where he majored in English literature.Fernando F. Croce, ''
Slant
Slant can refer to:
Bias
*Bias or other non- objectivity in journalism, politics, academia or other fields
Technical
* Slant range, in telecommunications, the line-of-sight distance between two points which are not at the same level
*Slant d ...
Philadelphia Weekly
''Philadelphia Weekly'' (''PW'') is a website based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a newspaper in 1971 as ''The Welcomat'', a sister publication to the ''South Philadelphia Press''. In 1995, the paper became ''Philadelphia Weekl ...
''
* 10th â
Keith Phipps
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cr ...
, ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
''
* Top 10 (unranked) â
David Edelstein
David Edelstein (born 1959) is a freelance American film critic who has been the principal film critic for ''Slate'' and ''New York'' magazine, among others, and has appeared regularly on NPR's ''Fresh Air'' and ''CBS Sunday Morning'' programs. O ...
, ''
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
''
* 12th â Sam Adams, ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
''
* 13th â ''
Empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
''
* Top 16 (unranked) â
Dennis Cooper
Dennis Cooper (born January 10, 1953) is an American novelist, poet, critic, editor and performance artist. He is best known for the ''George Miles Cycle'', a series of five semi-autobiographical novels published between 1989 and 2000 and describ ...
* 20th â ''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
The Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
''
* Top 25 (narrative films, unranked);â Dennis Harvey, ''
The San Francisco Bay Guardian
The ''San Francisco Bay Guardian'' was a free alternative newspaper published weekly in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1966 by Bruce B. Brugmann and his wife, Jean Dibble. The paper was shut down on October 14, 2014. It was relaun ...
''
It was also featured on many critics' and publications' lists of the best films of the 2010s:
* 2nd â ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
''
* 5th â
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for ''The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008, when he retired. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has ...
IndieWire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...
Glenn Kenny
Glenn Kenny (born August 8, 1959) is an American film critic and journalist. He writes for ''The New York Times'' and '' RogerEbert.com''.
Biography
Kenny attended William Paterson University, where he majored in English literature.Cinema Scope
''Cinema Scope'' is an English-language film magazine published in Toronto, Canada.
History and profile
''Cinema Scope'' has been published since 1999 with articles on world cinema. The magazine has compiled a list of the top 10 films of each ...
''
* 11th â Matt Singer, ''
ScreenCrush
Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wi ...
Hyperallergic
''Hyperallergic'' is an online arts magazine, based in Brooklyn, New York. Founded by the art critic Hrag Vartanian and his husband Veken Gueyikian in October 2009, the site describes itself as a "forum for serious, playful, and radical thinking ...
''
* 14th â ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
''
* 16th â
Ty Burr
Ty Burr (born August 17, 1957) is an American film critic, columnist, and author who currently writes a film and popular culture newsletter "Ty Burr's Watchlist" on Substack. Burr previously served as film critic at ''The Boston Globe'' for two ...
, ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
''
* Top 17 (unranked);â Eric Allen Hatch
* Top 21 (between 12-21, unranked) â
Nicole Brenez
Nicole may refer to:
People
* Nicole (name)
* Nicole (American singer) (born 1958), a contestant in season 3 of the American ''The X Factor''
* Nicole (Chilean singer) (born 1977)
* Nicole (German singer) (born 1964), winner of the 1982 Eurovi ...
as submitted to ''
The Toronto Film Review
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
Richard Brody
Richard Brody (born 1958) is an American film critic who has written for ''The New Yorker'' since 1999.
Education
Brody grew up in Roslyn, New York, and attended Princeton University, receiving a B.A. in comparative literature in 1980. He first ...
, ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
''
* 36th â ''The Playlist''
* 43rd â ''
Time Out
Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to:
Time
* Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team
* Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken
* Timeout (computing), an enginee ...
'' (New York)
* 43rd â Susannah Gruder
* Top 50 (unranked);â
Nellie Killian
Nelly (born 1974) is an American rapper, singer, actor and entrepreneur.
Nelly or Nellie may also refer to:
Places
* Nellie, Ohio, an American village
* Nellie, Assam, a town in Nagaon district
* Nelly Island, Antarctica
* Nelly Island, Bermud ...
RogerEbert.com
''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times' ...
''
* 90th â ''
Film School Rejects
Film School Rejects is an American blog devoted to movie reviews, interviews, film industry news, and feature commentary. It was founded by Neil Miller in February 2006.
The site was nominated for Best News Blog by ''Total Film'' magazine and na ...
''
According to ''They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?'', ''Holy Motors'' is the 11th-most critically acclaimed film of the 21st century and the 283rd-most critically acclaimed film of all time.
Accolades
See also
*
List of films featuring fictional films
A body of films feature fictional films as part of their narrative. These are also called films within films.
List of films
See also
*Story within a story
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
*
*{{cite news , last=Rapold , firs ...