Pauline Kael (1919–2001) was an American film critic known for her sharp prose, passionate opinions, and immense influence on film writing. She served as the film critic for The New Yorker 1968–91, shaping a generation of filmmakers and critics.
Born in Petaluma, California, she studied philosophy, literature, and art at the University of California-Berkeley. A devoted movie lover, she began publishing film reviews in 1953 in City Lights magazine. Her essays also appeared in Partisan Review, Moviegoer, Kulchur, and Film Quarterly. She delivered radio reviews on Pacifica stations and managed two art cinemas in Berkeley.
Kael brought a biting, witty, deeply personal voice to film criticism. She wrote with flair and audacity, dissecting films in the context of their audiences and social impact. She praised directors like Ingmar Bergman, Francis Ford Coppola, and Martin Scorsese, while challenging prevailing critical views.
Her books, mostly collections of her reviews, include I Lost It at the Movies (1965,) Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (1968,) Going Steady (1970,) Deeper Into Movies (1973,) Reeling (1976,) When the Lights Go Down (1980,) Taking It All In (1984,) 5001 Nights at the Movies (1982,) For Keeps: 30 Years at the Movies (1994,) and The Age of Movies (2011.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Pauline Kael
In the arts, the critic is the only independent source of information. The rest is advertising.
—Pauline Kael
Topics: Critics, Advertising, Criticism
One of the surest signs of the Philistine is his reverence for the superior tastes of those who put him down.
—Pauline Kael
Topics: Culture
The words “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” which I saw on an Italian movie poster, are perhaps the briefest statement imaginable of the basic appeal of movies. This appeal is what attracts us, and ultimately what makes us despair when we begin to understand how seldom movies are more than this.
—Pauline Kael
A mistake in judgment isn’t fatal, but too much anxiety about judgment is.
—Pauline Kael
Topics: Judgement, Mistakes
Irresponsibility is part of the pleasure of all art; it is the part the schools cannot recognize.
—Pauline Kael
Topics: Artists, Arts, Art
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