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 contributed to such notable film publications as ''Cahiers du cinéma'' and ''Film Comment''.

Regarding Rosenbaum, French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard said, "I think there is a very good film critic in the United States today, a successor of James Agee, and that is Jonathan Rosenbaum. He's one of the best; we don't have writers like him in France today. He's like André Bazin."

Early life

Rosenbaum grew up in Florence, Alabama, where his grandfather had owned a small chain of movie theaters. He grew up with his father Stanley and mother Mildred in the Rosenbaum House, designed by notable architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the only building by Wright in Alabama. As a teenager, he attended The Putney School in Putney, Vermont, where his classmates included actor Wallace Shawn.Rosenbaum, Jonathan
Playing Oneself
He graduated from Putney in 1961.

Rosenbaum developed a lifelong interest in jazz as a teenager. He frequently refers to it in his film criticism. He attended Bard College, where he played piano in an amateur jazz ensemble that included future actors Chevy Chase as a drummer and Blythe Danner as a vocalist."To Understand Movies You Have to Understand the World": An Interview with Film Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum
He studied literature at Bard with the intention of becoming a writer. Among his professors was German philosopher Heinrich Blücher, whose teaching had a strong effect on Rosenbaum.

Earliest career

After graduate school, he moved to New York and was hired to edit a collection of film criticism, which marked his first foray into the field.

Rosenbaum moved to Paris in 1969, working briefly as an assistant to director Jacques Tati and appearing as an extra in Robert Bresson's '' Four Nights of a Dreamer''. While living there, he began writing film and literary criticism for ''The Village Voice'', based in the Village in New York City'', Film Comment'', and ''Sight & Sound''. In 1974, he moved from Paris to London, where he remained until March 1977, when he was offered a two-semester teaching position at the University of California, San Diego by Manny Farber.Rosenbaum, Jonathan
They Drive by Night: The Criticism of Manny Farber.
/ref> Farber had a major influence on Rosenbaum's criticism, but the two men had never met until the latter arrived in San Diego.Dave Kehr