Justin Chang
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justincchang.bsky.social
Justin Chang
@justincchang.bsky.social
24K followers 570 following 150 posts
Film Critic, The New Yorker and NPR’s Fresh Air | 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism | Chair, National Society of Film Critics | Programmer, New York Film Festival
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justincchang.bsky.social
“What were any of us doing at that age that was comparably heroic or meaningful? What are we doing now?” The great @timgrierson.bsky.social on one of the year’s great films, MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART I — LAST AIR IN MOSCOW. Opens Nov. 28 in L.A.: www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Review: 'My Undesirable Friends' puts us front row as a real-life Russian TV channel unravels
Filmmaker Julia Loktev was in Moscow following her journalist friends as Russian forces invaded Ukraine. She captured a changing media climate for reporters.
www.latimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:05 AM
justincchang.bsky.social
Chloé Zhao's HAMNET, reviewed. Bring tissues; wet streams may come. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
“Hamnet” Feels Elemental, but Is It Just Highly Effective Grief Porn?
In Chloé Zhao’s film, adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, the death of a child gives rise to the creation of a literary masterpiece.
www.newyorker.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:00 AM
justincchang.bsky.social
Damn, how did I miss “aBaumination”?
newyorker.com The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 5d
On stage, the origin stories for Dorothy’s travelling companions play out with “a breezy behind-the-scenes cleverness,” @justincchang.bsky.social writes. “On screen, and on full display, it’s close to an abomination.” Read his review of “Wicked: For Good.” https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/a8Ha70
“Wicked: For Good” Is Very, Very Bad
In the second of two movies adapted from the Broadway musical, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo battle fascism, bigotry, and some fairly dreadful filmmaking.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 21, 2025 at 6:04 PM
justincchang.bsky.social
Baum's away. The remarkably terrible WICKED: FOR GOOD, reviewed: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
“Wicked: For Good” Is Very, Very Bad
In the second of two movies adapted from the Broadway musical, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo battle fascism, bigotry, and some fairly dreadful filmmaking.
www.newyorker.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:47 AM
justincchang.bsky.social
Ghosts of girlhoods past: on the haunting, labyrinthine mysteries of Mascha Schilinski's SOUND OF FALLING, one of 2025's great films. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
The Ghosts of Girlhoods Past in “Sound of Falling”
Mascha Schilinski’s dark, century-spanning ensemble drama sees four generations of women take up spectral residence in a German farmhouse.
www.newyorker.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:56 PM
justincchang.bsky.social
A rave for SIRĀT, the movie of the year: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
“Sirāt” Is a Harrowing, Exhilarating Dance of Death
In Oliver Laxe’s desert thriller, an intensely agonizing journey reveals both the pitiless nature of fate and the stubborn persistence of compassion.
www.newyorker.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:17 PM
justincchang.bsky.social
Ordinary Papal
nytimes.com The New York Times @nytimes.com · 15d
Pope Leo has shared his four favorite movies of all time, as the Vatican prepares to host dozens of actors and directors in a “World of Cinema” gathering on Saturday at his official residence. See which films made the pope's list. nyti.ms/4p3exK9
Pope Leo Shares His Favorite Movies Ahead of Vatican Event
The list leans heavily on uplifting classics.
nyti.ms
November 12, 2025 at 2:52 AM
justincchang.bsky.social
Of the two new movies in which a film-industry father seeks to reconcile with his two neglected daughters, I'm a bit surprised to find myself preferring the honest schmaltz of JAY KELLY to the coy self-satisfaction of SENTIMENTAL VALUE. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
The Bad Show-Biz Dads of “Sentimental Value” and “Jay Kelly”
In new films from Joachim Trier and Noah Baumbach, success in filmmaking proves depressingly incompatible with success in fatherhood.
www.newyorker.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Reposted by Justin Chang
newyorker.com
A sneak peek at the cover of next week’s issue, which celebrates Zohran Mamdani’s historic win. #NewYorkerCovers
https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/451hFM
November 5, 2025 at 3:15 AM
justincchang.bsky.social
'Stein of the times? On the wonders, blunders, and blunderbusses of Guillermo del Toro's FRANKENSTEIN, a movie I liked quite a bit, even if it is, too fittingly, its own technologically compromised creature: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
In Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” a Vast Vision Gets Netflixed Down to Size
The latest reanimation of Mary Shelley’s classic tale, starring Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi, is a labyrinthine tour of a filmmaker’s career-long obsessions.
www.newyorker.com
October 29, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Reposted by Justin Chang
lafilmcritics.bsky.social
A truly iconic reaction from Kaufman
“I had just awakened from a Sunday nap and was lying in bed watching A Streetcar Named Desire on TCM when Robert Abele called to tell me the exciting news that LAFCA had given me their Career Achievement Award,” said Kaufman. “And I was suddenly struck by the realization that I have always depended on the kindness of strangers who were critics — and that some of the sweetest things that ever happened to me occurred while I was in bed.”
October 23, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Reposted by Justin Chang
lafilmcritics.bsky.social
Our 2026 Career Achievement Award recipient is Philip Kaufman
Photo of Philip Kaufman wearing a white shirt and looking to the left, standing behind a camera. “Intrepid doesn’t even begin to describe a director who, among his many considerable achievements, gave Indiana Jones his first assignment and inspired the NC-17 rating,” said LAFCA President Robert Abele. “A criminally underappreciated director, Philip Kaufman could never be pigeonholed, from his early days absorbing the independent spirit of homegrown DIY-ers and the European New Wave, to his cool, vivid command of genre in the ’70s, followed by a handful of uncompromising historical epics, including The Right Stuff and The Unbearable Lightness of Being, that belied anybody’s notion that American filmmakers couldn’t be versatile, intelligent and entertaining about big ideas. The L.A. Film Critics Association is immensely proud to be honoring this dyed-in-the-wool iconoclast.”
October 23, 2025 at 9:04 PM
justincchang.bsky.social
Hive minds and galaxy brains: on the transfixing psychological duet of Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, in Yorgos Lanthimos’ BUGONIA: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Emma Stone’s Apocalyptic Showdown Blooms in “Bugonia”
In Yorgos Lanthimos’s film, ripe with eco-paranoia, the actress and Jesse Plemons come to physical and psychological blows.
www.newyorker.com
October 24, 2025 at 3:38 PM
justincchang.bsky.social
Jafar Panahi's Palme d'Or winner, IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT, is now playing in New York and Los Angeles theatres. A film of blistering rage and implacable moral authority, in which Panahi's presence, experience and courage are stamped into every frame: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
Jafar Panahi’s Cannes Triumph Sends a Warning to Authoritarians Everywhere
The Iranian director’s Palme d’Or-winning thriller, “It Was Just an Accident,” set the tone for a festival defined by dramas of political resistance.
www.newyorker.com
October 17, 2025 at 5:27 PM
justincchang.bsky.social
Epic fail-safe: A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE is a high-minded piece of doomsday schlock — and a baffling misuse of the director Kathryn Bigelow's talents. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
“A House of Dynamite” Is a Major Misfire from a Great Filmmaker
In Kathryn Bigelow’s ensemble drama, a nuclear attack exposes more failures of screenwriting than of geopolitical-crisis management.
www.newyorker.com
October 14, 2025 at 10:46 PM
justincchang.bsky.social
Byrne notice: on Mary Bronstein's frayed-nerves tour de force IF I HAD LEGS I'D KICK YOU, led by one of the year's great performances. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
The Virtuosic Maternal Freakout of “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”
In Mary Bronstein’s film, Rose Byrne plays a therapist contending with a sick child, an absent husband, an uninhabitable home, and a world that seems nightmarishly bent on her failure.
www.newyorker.com
October 10, 2025 at 11:21 AM
justincchang.bsky.social
I profiled Richard Linklater on the occasion of his remarkable 2025 double bill, BLUE MOON and NOUVELLE VAGUE. We talked Austin, Cannes, Paris, OKLAHOMA!, beginnings (and ends) of beautiful friendships, and how to pursue a singular vision in a collaborative medium. www.newyorker.com/culture/pers...
Richard Linklater’s Uncompromising Artists
In two new historical films, “Blue Moon” and “Nouvelle Vague,” the director explores the challenges of staying true to a creative vision.
www.newyorker.com
September 27, 2025 at 4:19 PM
justincchang.bsky.social
There Willa be blood: Paul Thomas Anderson’s exhilarating ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER, reviewed. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
“One Battle After Another” Is a Powerhouse of Tenderness and Fury
In Paul Thomas Anderson’s film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s “Vineland,” the fight against American fascism is a family affair.
www.newyorker.com
September 26, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Reposted by Justin Chang
nsfc.bsky.social
We strongly condemn the actions taken by Nexstar and Disney-ABC to pull JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE! off the air.
FILM CRITICS’ GROUPS DENOUNCE NEXSTAR AND DISNEY-ABC DECISIONS TO SUSPEND “JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!” We, the members of the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Society of Film Critics, strongly condemn the actions taken by Nexstar and Disney-ABC to pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air. For decades, our organizations have represented a profession that is enabled by the First Amendment. Kimmel’s long-running talk show promotes free speech, including when it gives film artists the chance to discuss their work. There is only one word to describe the decision by powerful media corporations to silence an individual’s perspective due to fear of repercussions by the government: censorship. This is the antithesis of the values embodied by our work. We demand a reversal of this decision and encourage our colleagues across the industry to do the same.
September 18, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Reposted by Justin Chang
lafilmcritics.bsky.social
We strongly condemn the actions taken by Nexstar and Disney-ABC to pull JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE! off the air.
FILM CRITICS’ GROUPS DENOUNCE NEXSTAR AND DISNEY-ABC DECISIONS TO SUSPEND “JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!” We, the members of the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Society of Film Critics, strongly condemn the actions taken by Nexstar and Disney-ABC to pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air. For decades, our organizations have represented a profession that is enabled by the First Amendment. Kimmel’s long-running talk show promotes free speech, including when it gives film artists the chance to discuss their work. There is only one word to describe the decision by powerful media corporations to silence an individual’s perspective due to fear of repercussions by the government: censorship. This is the antithesis of the values embodied by our work. We demand a reversal of this decision and encourage our colleagues across the industry to do the same.
September 18, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Reposted by Justin Chang
espiers.bsky.social
Firing a Black woman for quoting Kirk’s horrific statements about Black women is insane. It seems the Washington Post would rather perform politeness (and demand that the people Kirk harmed do it too) that tell the truth: karenattiah.substack.com/p/the-washin...
The Washington Post Fired Me — But My Voice Will Not Be Silenced.
I spoke out against hatred and violence in America — and it cost me my job.
karenattiah.substack.com
September 15, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Reposted by Justin Chang
nsfc.bsky.social
Warmest of welcomes to Lovia Gyarkye, the newest member of the National Society of Film Critics. Congratulations, Lovia!
September 2, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Reposted by Justin Chang
manohladargis.bsky.social
As long as we’re on the subject of Netflix and movies (however reluctantly!) I recommend this piece by @tavlin.bsku.social about why so many Netflix movies suck: www.nplusonemag.com/issue-49/ess...
Casual Viewing | Will Tavlin
A decade before Airbnb persuaded homeowners to transform their homes into hotels, Netflix convinced its users to turn theirs into mini Netflix warehouses. Customers who held onto their DVDs for longer...
www.nplusonemag.com
August 24, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Reposted by Justin Chang
szacharek.bsky.social
In light of Vanity Fair's recent idiotic decision, WaPo's offering its veteran critic a buyout, the NYT's "reassigning" three arts writers critics, etc., a lot of us are talking about the public's (and thus publications') lack of interest in criticism. It's part of a larger pattern of a war...
August 13, 2025 at 1:22 PM
justincchang.bsky.social
"Evil is not eternal, and truth will surely win." On dissidence, despair, and defiant hope in Julia Loktev's extraordinary five-part documentary, MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART I — LAST AIR IN MOSCOW. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
“My Undesirable Friends: Part I” Is a Staggering Portrait of Russian Journalists in Dissent
In Julia Loktev’s epic documentary, filmed before, during, and after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, several courageous Moscow reporters see their worst fears realized.
www.newyorker.com
August 14, 2025 at 4:12 PM