From 1987 until early 2008, Jonathan Rosenbaum worked as film critic for the Chicago Reader; he now works as a freelancer and has a web site at jonathanrosenbaum.net. Born in Florence, Alabama in 1943, where he lived until he was 16, he grew up in a Frank Lloyd Wright house and was the grandson and son of cinema exhibitors who ran a chain in northwestern Alabama.
His books include Moving Places: A Life at the Movies (1980), Film: the Front Line (1983), Midnight Movies (with J. Hoberman, 1983), Grede (1991), Placing Movies: the Practice of Film Criticism (1995), Movies as Politics (1997), Dead Man (2000), Movie Wars: How Hollywood and the Media Limit What Films We Can See (2000), Abbas Kiarostami (with Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa, 2003), Essential Cinema: On the Necessity of Film Canons (2004), Discovering Orson Welles (2007), The Unquiet American: Transgressive Comedies from the US (2009), Goodbye Cinema, Hello Cinephilia: Film Culture in Transition (2010), and, as editor or coeditor, Rivette: Texts and Interviews (1977), This is Orson Welles (1992), and Movie Mutations: the Changing Face of World Cinephilia (with Adrian Martin, 2003).
He has taught at Bela Tarr’s film.factory (Sarajevo), Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond), the University of St. Andrews (Scotland), New York University, the University of California at San Diego, Berkeley and Santa Barbara.
Articles by Jonathan Rosenbaum
1 - 10 of 11
-
Tommy archive review: Ken Russell’s imaginative rock opera pulses with energy
On its original release, Jonathan Rosenbaum found the film adaptation of Pete Townshend’s concept album to be enjoyably flashy, with Tina Turner and Elton John providing the standout numbers.
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
-
From the Magazine
In tribute to Jonas Mekas, who died 23 January 2019, we republish Jonathan Rosenbaum’s 1977 review of Mekas’s breakthrough diary film.
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
-
From the Magazine
Work and play in the house of fiction: Jacques Rivette’s Out 1 and Céline and Julie Go Boating
Jonathan Rosenbaum considers the flurry of early-1970s filmmaking with which Jacques Rivette laid claim to the mantle of radical narrative innovation in French cinema.
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
-
Our late editor, in the words of her colleagues.
Thursday, November 12, 2015
-
A pantheon of one’s own: 25 female film critics worth celebrating
A selection of critics and curators each nominate a vital female voice in film criticism, with an example of their writing.
Sunday, March 8, 2015
-
From the Magazine
Critics’ 50 Greatest Documentaries of All Time
The greatest documentaries as nominated by 237 critics, curators and academics.
Friday, August 1, 2014
-
A personal report on an adventure called film.factory
What Jonathan Rosenbaum learnt teaching at Béla Tarr’s new film school.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
-
Restoration heaven: Il Cinema Ritrovato 2011
Jonathan Rosenbaum goes reevaluating the films of Soviet dramatist Boris Barnet, Howard Hawks and Louis Feuillade’s muse Musidora at Bolgona’s ‘festival of rediscoveries’.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
-
From the Magazine
The best film books, by 51 critics
Which are the most inspirational five books about film ever written? This was the question we asked 51 leading critics and writers, and their answers are printed here in full.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
-
With its unconventional treatment of violence, racism and capitalism, Jim Jarmusch’s black-and-white western may be his finest work to date.
Saturday, July 1, 2000
1 - 10 of 11
Sight & Sound magazine
-
Reviews, interviews and features from the international film magazine.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube