Occupation Film critic Name Manohla Dargis | Role Film critic Books L.A. confidential | |
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Education Hunter College High School Nominations Pulitzer Prize for Criticism | ||
The Carpetbagger: The Bagger's Backyard | The New York Times
Manohla Dargis (born 1961) is one of the chief film critics for The New York Times, along with A. O. Scott.
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Career
Prior to being a film critic for The New York Times, Dargis was a chief film critic for the Los Angeles Times, the film editor at the LA Weekly, and a film critic at The Village Voice, where she had two columns on avant-garde cinema (CounterCurrents and Shock Corridor). Her work has been included in a number of books, including Women and Film: A Sight and Sound Reader and American Movie Critics: An Anthology From the Silents Until Now, published by the Library of America. She wrote a monograph on Curtis Hanson's film L.A. Confidential for the British Film Institute and has served as the president and vice-president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
In 2012, Dargis received a Nelson A. Rockefeller Award from Purchase College; the award is, according to the college, “presented to individuals who have distinguished themselves through their contributions to the arts.” In 2013, Matt Barone of Complex named her the eighth-greatest film critic of all time. She was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2013, 2015, and 2016.
Personal life
Dargis grew up in Manhattan's East Village, evincing an early love of film through regular attendance at St. Mark's Cinema and Theater 80. She graduated from Hunter College High School and received her BA in literature from Purchase College State University of New York in January 1985. She received a master of arts in cinema studies in 1988 from the Graduate School of Arts and Science at New York University. Dargis is married to the wine expert Lou Amdur.