77
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenThe Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenWhat sets it soaring is the discerning guide at its helm, one whose curatorial exultation and rigor are also calming, reassuring — a welcome voice in cacophonous times.
- 81TheWrapSteve PondTheWrapSteve Pond"The Story of Film" is long (though not by Cousins’ standards), it’s infuriating at times (entirely by design) and it overstates its case with defiant glee (again, it meant to do that), but you can’t love movies and not love a good chunk of what Cousins puts on the screen.
- 80The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawWhat is invigorating about The Story of Film is that each new clip, each new comment, is an exercise in back to basics, an exercise in looking, and looking again and looking harder – something that’s even more difficult when it feels like we’re drowning in content.
- 80VarietyPeter DebrugeVarietyPeter DebrugeThere’s room for infinite points of view behind the camera, as well as among those who do the watching. Offering the tools for unpacking potentially challenging movies, Cousins teaches people how to be better spectators — not by telling them the right way to watch, but by encouraging them to engage more deeply with what they see.
- 80The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeThe Irish TimesDonald ClarkeIt would be wrong to describe A New Generation as a mere coda to The Story of Film. Clocking in at a weighty 160 minutes, the documentary travels to every corner of cinemaspace.
- 80EmpireSophie Monks KaufmanEmpireSophie Monks KaufmanInevitably, there is a tacked-on quality here, yet Cousins’ flair for providing visual pleasure means that, like that first champagne cocktail of the night, The Next Generation bubbles with sparkling uplift.
- 75Slant MagazineChris BarsantiSlant MagazineChris BarsantiThe films collected in A New Generation speak for themselves even when they don’t necessarily slot neatly into Mark Cousins’s curlicue thinking.
- 70Screen DailyAllan HunterScreen DailyAllan HunterA New Generation offers no earthshattering conclusions. There is no pretense of covering everything, just a chance to swim in Cousins erudite passion for film and answer his call to keep the faith.
- 70The New York TimesBen KenigsbergThe New York TimesBen KenigsbergCousins’s assessments offer plenty to argue with, but it’s possible to enjoy “A New Generation” without agreeing that “Booksmart” “extends the world of film comedy,” as he claims, or that a shot in “It Follows” merits comparison to the camerawork in Michael Snow’s landmark experimental film “La Région Centrale.”
- 50The PlaylistWarren CantrellThe PlaylistWarren CantrellCousins is insightful, thorough in his technical comparisons, and well-read in the library of cinema, yet never quite connects his work to a larger tapestry that extends the form.