Film-Review-1 Original
Film-Review-1 Original
Film-Review-1 Original
Review
Genre
The film review is a popular way for critics to assess a films overall quality and determine
whether or not they think the film is worth recommending. Film reviews differ from scholarly
film articles in that they encompass personal and idiosyncratic reactions to and evaluations of a
film, as well as objective analyses of the films formal techniques and thematic content.
Preparing to Write the Review
While film reviews tend to be fairly short (approximately 600 to 1200 words), they require a lot
of preparation before you begin writing. Prior to viewing the film, you may want to get a sense
of the bodies of work by the director, writer, or individual actor. For instance, you may watch
other films by the same director or writer in order to get a sense of each individual style. This
will enable you to contextualize the film and determine whether it works as a continuation and/or
disruption within the broad trends of the directors or writers work.
Writing a film review often requires multiple viewings of the film. Plan to watch the film two or
even three times. During the first viewing, surrender yourself to the cinematic experience; in
other words, get lost in the narrative and enjoy the film without worrying about the argument you
will eventually cultivate. During your second viewing, try distancing yourself from the plot and
instead focus on interesting elements of the film that you can highlight in the review. You may
separate these elements into two broad categories: 1) formal techniques such as cinematography,
editing, mise-en-scene, lighting, diegetic and non-diegetic sound, genre, or narratology, and 2)
thematic content that resonates with issues such as history, race, gender, sexuality, class, or the
environment.
After watching the film a second time, take careful notes on the formal and thematic elements of
the film. Then attempt to create a central idea for your review that brings together the films
formal and thematic elements. If your second viewing does not yield a strong central claim for
the review or if you need to take more notes, you may have to watch the film or parts of the film
a third time.
Recommended Texts
Corrigan, Timothy. A Short Guide to Writing about Film. New York: Longman, 2001.
Part of Longmans Short Guide series, Corrigan discusses different approaches to film
and provides useful tips on ways to begin writing about film. The book includes a
glossary of technical film terms, and a section of the book deals with these terms in more
detail. It also features sample essays and a section on conducting film research.
Bordwell, David and Kristen Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction. New York: McGraw
Hill, 2006.
First published in 1979 and updated every few years, Bordwell and Thompsons book has
become the standard textbook for film courses. Although the authors pay attention to
genre, history, production, and distribution, the book is most useful for its attention to
style and how formal aspects of films create meaning. It is a bit much to get through for
a single paper on film, but is a useful resource, featuring a glossary of discipline-specific
terms and clearly delineated chapters on different aspects of film analysis.
Useful Links
Internet Movie Database (IMDb):
www.imdb.com
For quick information about a film, director, actor, producer, or production company,
IMDb cant be beat. It is not an ideal place to end your research, but it is a fine place to
start.
Duke Writing Studios Visual Rhetoric/Visual Literary: Writing about Film:
http://twp.duke.edu/uploads/media_items/film.original.pdf