SXSW Film Preview: For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism

Thanks to yelpers, rotten tomato throwers and a veritable uprising of basement bloggers, the old saying has become truer than ever before: Everyone’s a Critic.

Exploring this modern trend (and taking the time to remind us of pre-blog America) is the 2009 SXSW Documentary Feature For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism, which calls movie reviewing a “profession under siege.”

This film-about-film puts faces to familiar bylines (A.O. Scott, Elvis Mitchell) and gives air time to the recognizable ones as well; how modern/relevant would a documentary about movie criticism be without Roger Ebert or Austin’s Harry Knowles?

This historical exploration covers all the bases (goddess-critic Pauline Kael receives ample attention, as does her nemesis Andrew Sarris) and will leave the audience wondering what the future may hold for this ever-more scattered aspect of the film experience.

For the Love of Movies screens again Wednesday, March 16th and Saturday, March 21st. For more information, check out the SXSW Film Festival schedule.

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