This summer, after a 50-year
reign, Orson Welles’ Citizen
Kane was bumped off its
‘Greatest Film of All Time’
spot in Sight and Sound’s
critics’ poll by Hitchcock’s Vertigo.
Peter Bradshaw, the Guardian’s film
critic, has his own take on the demotion:
that it’s “symptomatic of a
dying interest in the old-fashioned
newspaper proprietor, who until recently
was still an important figure”.
Print journalism is not as enchanting
as it was: these are perilous times
for the big newspapers, and Bradshaw
can provide some insights as to
where, if anywhere, film criticism is
going, along with the great machine
of journalism which funds and sustains
it.
Bradshaw has had a smooth career.
After completing a PhD in Renaissance
Literature at Cambridge,
he turned to journalism as the “traditional
home for misfits and people
who can’t really get a job anywhere
else”, and moved from “all-purpose
deputy” work at the Evening Standard
to film critic at the Guardian
after receiving a sudden phone call.
Now well-established, he writes reviews
almost daily, gets his “showbiz
face on” for Guardian Film’s
video podcasts, and has found time
to write three novels, the latest of
which is soon to be published.
Despite his experience of freelance
writing (co-writing the sitcom Baddiel’s
Syndrome in 2001) he was happy
to give up the “insecurity” of it for
something “more regimented”. But
he wishes freelance writers like film
bloggers would make more of the
freedom they have. “If they want to
write a 2,000 word screed on Antonioni,
they can, or they can record
video links. They can do all sorts of
things. But I think the problem with
bloggers is they’re sort of independent
and sort of not; they’re dependent
on the companies to let them into
screenings, so they end up praising
these new films because they need
to get in. I think it’s partly that, and
partly that blog writing isn’t from
the same tradition of knockabout
debate and arguing, and not taking
it personally.”
As for journalism, “increasingly, I
think it’s more of a career for people
who want to be star journalists. It
used to be [the case that] star journalists
were preening, superstar divas
as opposed to the ordinary journalists
writing the news stories. Now,
all the news is now being ground out
of the internet, and more and more
they’re not using news reporters;
what they’re using is entertainers.”
However, “the BBC has survived and
prospered to an extraordinary degree,
kept its licence fee, infuriated
all the newspapers by going into
the internet. Maybe broadcasting’s
where it’s at.”
The digital age has affected how we
watch films as well as how we write
about them, but Bradshaw is suspicious
of over-theorising on this front.
He points out we’ve had film “on tap”
for decades, thanks to television.
“But now, there’s a culture studies
industry that has to be fed in a way
that there wasn’t in the ‘50s, ‘60s
or ‘70s. Until about the ‘50s and
‘60s, cinemas showed movies continuously.
There weren’t separate
programmes where you can see a
film at one o’clock, three o’clock,
seven o’clock, it was just one film
all day. You turned up halfway,
you watched to the end, and then you
watched the first bit. That’s where
the phrase “this is where I came
in” comes from. But there
wasn’t the same kind of
agonised cultural studies
going ‘what does
this mean?’ They’re
eroding the very concept
of narrative!”
Over the next few
months, the films
that Bradshaw’s going
to see at ‘one o’clock,
three o’clock, seven
o’clock’ include Beasts of
the Southern Wild (released
October 19th), The Master
(November 2nd) and Tarantino’s
Django Unchained
(January
18th). He will
also be rewatching
Michael Haneke’s Amour
(November 6th), ‘a brilliant film but
very agonising’. Perhaps comfortingly,
he reflects “I still
think to an extraordinary
degree there is a solid
consensus about what
makes a film, I don’t
get the sense that it’s
breaking up. I think
it’s quite extraordinary
that we still
believe that a film
lasts from about an
hour and half to two
and a half hours… It’s
frankly remarkable
how little
it’s changed.”
This summer, after a 50-year reign, Orson Welles’ CitizenKane was bumped off its‘Greatest Film of All Time’spot in Sight and Sound’scritics’ poll by Hitchcock’s Vertigo.Peter Bradshaw, the Guardian’s filmcritic, has his own take on the demotion:that it’s “symptomatic of adying interest in the old-fashioned newspaper proprietor, who until recently was still an important figure”.Print journalism is not as enchanting as it was: these are perilous times for the big newspapers, and Bradshaw can provide some insights as to where, if anywhere, film criticism is going, along with the great machine of journalism which funds and sustains it.
Bradshaw has had a smooth career. After completing a PhD in Renaissance Literature at Cambridge,he turned to journalism as the “traditional home for misfits and people who can’t really get a job anywhere else”, and moved from “all-purpose deputy” work at the Evening Standard to film critic at the Guardian after receiving a sudden phone call. Now well-established, he writes reviews almost daily, gets his “showbiz face on” for Guardian Film’s video podcasts, and has found time to write three novels, the latest of which is soon to be published.
Despite his experience of freelance writing (co-writing the sitcom Baddiel’s Syndrome in 2001) he was happy to give up the “insecurity” of it for something “more regimented”. But he wishes freelance writers like filmbloggers would make more of the freedom they have. “If they want towrite a 2,000 word screed on Antonioni, they can, or they can record video links. They can do all sorts of things. But I think the problem with bloggers is they’re sort of independent and sort of not; they’re dependent on the companies to let them into screenings, so they end up praising these new films because they need to get in. I think it’s partly that, and partly that blog writing isn’t from the same tradition of knock about debate and arguing, and not taking it personally.”
As for journalism, “increasingly, I think it’s more of a career for people who want to be star journalists. It used to be [the case that] star journalists were preening, superstar divas as opposed to the ordinary journalists writing the news stories. Now, all the news is now being ground out of the internet, and more and more they’re not using news reporters; what they’re using is entertainers.”However, the BBC has survived and prospered to an extraordinary degree, kept its licence fee, infuriated all the newspapers by going into the internet. Maybe broadcasting’s where it’s at.”
The digital age has affected how we watch films as well as how we write about them, but Bradshaw is suspicious of over-theorising on this front. He points out we’ve had film “on tap” for decades, thanks to television.“But now, there’s a culture studies industry that has to be fed in a way that there wasn’t in the ‘50s, ‘60s or ‘70s. Until about the ‘50s and ‘60s, cinemas showed movies continuously. There weren’t separate programmes where you can see a film at one o’clock, three o’clock, seven o’clock, it was just one film all day. You turned up halfway, you watched to the end, and then you watched the first bit. That’s where the phrase “this is where I came in” comes from. But there wasn’t the same kind of agonised cultural studies going ‘what does this mean?’ They’re eroding the very concept of narrative!”
Over the next few months, the films that Bradshaw’s going to see at ‘one o’clock,three o’clock, seven o’clock’ include Beasts of the Southern Wild (released October 19th), The Master (November 2nd) and Tarantino’s Django Unchained (January 18th). He will also be rewatching Michael Haneke’s Amour (November 6th), ‘a brilliant film but very agonising’. Perhaps comfortingly, he reflects “I still think to an extraordinary degree there is a solid consensus about what makes a film, I don’t get the sense that it’s breaking up. I think it’s quite extraordinary that we still believe that a film lasts from about an hour and half to two and a half hours… It’s frankly remarkable how little it’s changed.”
