HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Richard Brody (born 1958) is an American
film critic Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, magazines and other popular mass-media outlets ...
who has written for ''
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 ...
'' since 1999.


Education

Brody grew up in Roslyn, New York, and attended
Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
, receiving a B.A. in comparative literature in 1980. He first became interested in films after seeing
Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran ...
's seminal
French New Wave French New Wave (french: La Nouvelle Vague) is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of iconocla ...
film '' Breathless'' during his freshman year at Princeton. In the early 1980s, after graduating from college, Brody briefly lived in Paris. He is the author of a biography of Godard.


Career

Before becoming a film critic, Brody worked on documentaries and made several independent films. In December 2014, he was made a Chevalier (Knight) in the
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...
for his contributions in popularizing French cinema in America.


Favorite films

Brody participated in the 2012 ''Sight & Sound'' critics' poll, where he listed his ten favorite films as follows: *'' Gertrud'' (Denmark, 1964) *''
The Great Dictator ''The Great Dictator'' is a 1940 American anti-war political satire black comedy film written, directed, produced, scored by, and starring British comedian Charlie Chaplin, following the tradition of many of his other films. Having been the onl ...
'' (USA, 1940) *'' Husbands'' (USA, 1970) *''
Journey to Italy ''Journey to Italy'', also known as ''Voyage to Italy'', is a 1954 drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini. Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders play Katherine and Alex Joyce, a childless English married couple on a trip to Italy whose marriage i ...
'' (Italy, 1954) *''
King Lear ''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane a ...
'' (USA, 1987) *'' The Last Laugh'' (Germany, 1924) *'' Marnie'' (USA, 1964) *''
Playtime ''Playtime'' (stylized as ''PlayTime'' and also written as ''Play Time'') is a 1967 comedy film directed by Jacques Tati. In the film, Tati again plays Monsieur Hulot, the popular character who had central roles in his earlier films '' Les Vac ...
'' (France, 1967) *'' The Rules of the Game'' (France, 1939) *'' Shoah'' (France, 1985)


Best films of the year

*2007: '' In Praise of Love'' *2008: ''
Wendy and Lucy ''Wendy and Lucy'' is a 2008 American drama film directed by Kelly Reichardt. Reichardt and Jon Raymond adapted the screenplay from his short story ''Train Choir''. The film stars Michelle Williams as Wendy, a homeless woman who searches for he ...
'' *2009: '' Fantastic Mr. Fox'' *2010: '' Shutter Island'' *2011: '' The Future'' *2012: '' Holy Motors'' and ''
Moonrise Kingdom ''Moonrise Kingdom'' is a 2012 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson, written by Anderson and Roman Coppola, and starring Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzma ...
'' *2013: '' The Wolf of Wall Street'' *2014: '' The Grand Budapest Hotel'' *2015: '' Chi-Raq'' *2016: '' Little Sister'' *2017: '' Get Out'' *2018: '' Madeline's Madeline'' *2019: ''
The Irishman ''The Irishman'' (subtitled onscreen as ''I Heard You Paint Houses'') is a 2019 American epic gangster film directed and produced by Martin Scorsese and written by Steven Zaillian, based on the 2004 nonfiction book ''I Heard You Paint Hou ...
'' *2020: ''
Kajillionaire ''Kajillionaire'' is a 2020 American crime comedy-drama film written and directed by Miranda July (her third feature following ''Me and You and Everyone We Know'' and ''The Future''). The film stars Evan Rachel Wood, Debra Winger and Richard Jen ...
'' *2021: '' The French Dispatch''


Religious convictions

Brody was described as
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
in a 1993 ''
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 ...
'' profile. He has since identified as an
atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
.


Bibliography


References


External links


''New Yorker'' page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brody, Richard 1958 births Living people American expatriates in France American film critics National Society of Film Critics Members Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The New Yorker critics People from Roslyn, New York Princeton University alumni 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers Jewish American atheists