Talking Pictures:
David Edelstein on The Year's Best Films

By Nick Braccia
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February 18, 2000 | Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Pretty early on in this PopPulse gig, I discovered our greatest perk: the ability to call up or e-mail the celebrities, academics, artists, and writers we've always wanted to talk to, but never had good reason to contact. As we got moving, I made a short list of the people I wanted to interview. Included was Slate movie critic David Edelstein. Edelstein covered film at both The Boston Phoenix -- a paper famous for housing the country's best young critics in the 70's and 80's -- and The Village Voice, before making Slate his home.

I enjoy reading Edelstein's pieces because they possess a certain sense of nobility -- a responsibility to uphold the art of criticism. It doesn't hurt that his razor sharp wit and breezy, hip style are incredibly refreshing. Contemporary film criticism is, for the most part, structured into two camps: the mumbo-jumbo spewing snobs swooning over foreign and avant garde flicks, and the onomatopoeia flaunting, star tossing pop critics who fight to nail quotes on the latest Schumacher flick ad. Edelstein avoids both tendencies and stands out in the pack for doing so.

I've always liked the humorous touches in his reviews, but I had no idea that he was a gifted prankster. When I first contacted him about this interview, he was in the middle of Slate's end of the year "roundtable" discussion, featuring fellow critics Elvis Mitchell, Sarah Kerr, and Roger Ebert. I jokingly suggested that, somewhere in the discussion (which continued over the course of a week), Edelstein tease Ebert for championing The Phantom Menace. A day after I sent the e-mail, Edelstein publicly (and playfully) chastised Roger for liking "that damn Jar Jar movie." When I got the chance to ask him if he flamed the thumb-waver in response to my e-mail, he grinned a boyish grin and confirmed the suspected. In the world of criticism, there's a bonus for the paladin who can play jester. I wasn't just excited to talk to David, but to talk to him this year when movies like Three Kings, Run Lola Run, and The Straight Story knocked me out of my seat. Not to mention the South Park movie, which was so gleefully subversive on so many levels that it still feels fresh after three or four screenings. He energetically shared his thoughts on the movies of 1999, 80's disasters, and a host of other cinematic topics.

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