1. choose one film from the film list below.
2. Find a review of the film written around the time of the film’s release (or its first screening in the US/Canada).
The review can be printed in an academic journal but should not be an academic article. It can be in languages other than French or English, but you are responsible for translating into French or English the portions of the review you use and providing the quote in the original language as well.
Some publications that might be particularly fruitful: The New Yorker, The New York Times, Variety, The Montreal Gazette, Jump Cut, The AV Club.
3. Find 1-3 reviews (total of ~300 words) of the film written in the past three years by amateur film critic(s). Letterboxd is ideal for this, but you might also find reviews on IMDB or Mubi or Reddit or Rotten Tomatoes or Douban…so long as it’s by an amateur (or at least someone without a staff job).
Again, you can use a review from a language other than French or English, but you are responsible for translating into French or English the portions of the review you use and providing the quote in the original language as well.
4. In ~750–1000 words
a)Summarize the review written around the time of the film’s release, and, using evidence drawn from the text, make an argument about what the review focuses on and what it misses.
b) Summarize the review(s) written in the past three years, and, using evidence drawn from the text, make an argument about what the review focuses on and what it misses.
c) Compare and contrast the two reviews, and speculate as to what could account for the differences in reception. Draw on the context for these conclusions what you can find out about who wrote the reviews, where they were published, what reviews or advertisements were printed next to them, etc.
The goal of this exercise is to compare older moments of film reception to the way we discuss films today, and in comparing amateur reception to professional criticism, you will hopefully get a sense of the possibilities for evaluating and critiquing film, as well as a sense of how approaches toward the critique of film¾and especially world film¾have changed.
The Film list:
Hong Kong 1990s Fallen Angels (dir. Wong Kar-wai, 1995);
Song of the Exile (dir. Ann Hui, 1990);
Mahjong (dir. Edward Yang, 1996);
The Wedding Banquet (dir. Ang Lee, 1993)
Last Completed Projects
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