Manohla Dargis
-
“Stop Making Indie Films,” Urges Kentucker Audley Change.org Petition
Responding to recent articles in the New York Times and Salon, filmmaker Kentucker Audley has launched a Change.org petition asking “mediocre” independent filmmakers to stop making films. The articles blame overproduction and too many films achieving theatrical release for the economic and artistic issues facing independent film. For the New York Times’ Manohla Dargis — who herself asked distributors to “stop buying so many films” at Sundance — too many films in theaters produces a noise drowning out the virtues of the fewer good movies that deserve critical and public support. For Beanie Barnes at Salon, overproduction has led to […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 24, 2014 -
Columbia Professor Tim Wu Responds to Manohla Dargis’s “Too Many Movies” Argument
Credit Manohla Dargis for kicking up a big discussion about the intertwined economics and cultural worth of independent film with her much-debated “As Indies Explode, An Appeal for Sanity” published in the New York Times. While her plea to distributors to stop buying so many movies struck Sundance-bound hopefuls as, well, a little mean, others are viewing her commentary in different ways. The latest is Columbia professor and journalist Tim Wu, who has penned a New Yorker response, “More is More in Independent Film.” “Dargis is wrong,” he flat-out writes, “making lots of films to yield a few hits is […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 16, 2014 -
Manohla Dargis to Indie Distributors: Be More Discriminating
In advance of Sundance, the unofficial birthplace of the annual independent film calendar, Manohla Dargis has something to ask of the attending distributors: “stop buying so many movies.” Or at least, stop offering so many theatrical deals. “It’s hard to see how American independent cinema can sustain itself if it continues to focus on consumption rather than curation,” she writes. “There are, bluntly, too many lackluster, forgettable and just plain bad movies pouring into theaters, distracting the entertainment media and, more important, overwhelming the audience.” Her claim comes from a kind-hearted place. She ventures that the wonderfully singular Computer Chess could […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 9, 2014 -
Fuller: On Great, Boring Movies and Cultural Vegetables
Unless you are a very serious basketball player — at minimum serious intramural league level, or one of those Wall Street guys who absolutely must blow off a ton of steam by playing their hearts out on the court or else they’ll absolutely lose their soul — there is a very distinct qualitative difference between what it feels like to play basketball for a while and to run for a while. After you finish playing basketball for a while you feel good, you’ve gotten some good cardio, but that cardio is intermittent, the game being filled with plenty of pauses […]
by Zachary Wigon on Jun 7, 2011 -
IN DEFENSE OF ELITISM
Not to pick on Anne Thompson again, a fine industry journalist certainly, but a blog entry she published this past Friday piqued my interest for all the wrong reasons. (See the post, the healthy comments thread, and also David Poland’s response.) Thompson took a critical stance on a new feature of the New York Times’ Carpetbagger section, where lead critics Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott will provide an in-depth answer to one reader’s question every month. Allowing the critics to choose a question to answer, and giving them some time to work on their response, as opposed (one presumes) to […]
by Zachary Wigon on Feb 21, 2011 -
THE PUPPET MASTER
A few years ago I had the good fortune to be offered an amazing trip by the Italian Trade Commission. A half a dozen producers were invited to tour the Umbria region of Italy as well as Rome over the course of a week. There were great sights, great food, great hotels, great people. At one stop we were interviewed by a local paper who wanted to know our thoughts on Italian film. I riffed off my (somewhat obvious) favorites: Antonioni, Fellini, Pasolini, Argento and Leone. The latter two caused the journalist to laugh at my low-brow tastes. I was […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 30, 2005 -
MANOHLA TALKS BACK
I don’t know about you, but I’m enjoying tremendously Manohla Dargis’s film writing in the New York Times, particularly the more freewheeling attitude that runs through her pieces. Her Godard interview of a few weeks back was brilliantly edited. Leaving in his intellectual japes and her bemused ripostes — bits that might have been edited out in the hands of another Times critic — both made the piece entertaining and indicative of Godard’s entire enterprise. In today’s Times, Dargis steps in front of her byline to frankly answer questions from readers. (Registration required.) In response the various queries she raves […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 8, 2004 -
THE PRODIGAL CRITIC
Congrats — and welcome back to NYC — to Manohla Dargis, who returns, in print at least, to the Big Apple as film critic for the New York Times. She replaces Elvis Mitchell, who left last month, and joins A.O. “Tony” Scott and Stephen Holden. According to Nikki Finke’s piece, Dargis, who is being allowed to stay in L.A., was hired as much for her ability to write longer film think pieces as for her daily reviewing. Dargis has always figured out how to strike that balance between thoughtful ideas and rhetorical provocation, so here’s hoping that the Sunday Arts […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 26, 2004
