Richard Brody

Richard Brody (born January 22, 1958)^[1] is an American film critic, filmmaker and author.

Richard Brody
Born	(1958-01-22) January 22, 1958 (age 67) United States
Alma mater	Princeton University (BA)
Occupation	Film critic
Employer	The New Yorker (1999–present)
Spouse	Maja
Children	2
Awards	Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2014)

Background

Brody grew up in Roslyn, New York.^[2] He is Jewish and has personally identified as an atheist.^[2][3] Brody attended Princeton University, receiving a BA in comparative literature in 1980.^[2] He first became interested in films after seeing Jean-Luc Godard's seminal French New Wave film Breathless during his freshman year at Princeton. In the early 1980s, after graduating from college, Brody briefly lived in Paris.^[4] He is the author of a biography of Godard. Brody has two children with his wife, Maja, who immigrated to the United States from Yugoslavia.^[2][5]

Career

Before becoming a film critic, Brody worked on documentaries and made several independent films.^[4][6][7] Since 1999 he has written for The New Yorker, and in December 2014, he was made a Chevalier (Knight) in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his contributions in popularizing French cinema in America.^[8]

Favorite films

Brody participated in the 2012 Sight & Sound critics' poll,^[9] where he listed as his ten favorite films the following:

• Gertrud (Denmark, 1964)
• The Great Dictator (US, 1940)
• Husbands (US, 1970)
• Journey to Italy (Italy, 1954)
• King Lear (US, 1987)
• The Last Laugh (Germany, 1924)
• Marnie (US, 1964)
• Playtime (France, 1967)
• The Rules of the Game (France, 1939)
• Shoah (France, 1985)

In the 2022 Sight & Sound critics' poll, half of the films selected remained the same:

• King Lear (US, 1987)
• Shoah (France, 1985)
• The Last Laugh (Germany, 1924)
• The Gold Rush (US, 1925)
• The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (Japan, 1939)
• Citizen Kane (US, 1941)
• Playtime (France, 1967)
• Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Belgium-France, 1975)
• Faces (US, 1968)
• Daughters of the Dust (US, 1991)

Best films of the year

• 2007: The Darjeeling Limited
• 2008: Still Life
• 2009: Fantastic Mr. Fox
• 2010: Shutter Island^[10]
• 2011: The Future^[11]
• 2012: Holy Motors and Moonrise Kingdom^[12]
• 2013: To the Wonder and The Wolf of Wall Street^[13]
• 2014: The Grand Budapest Hotel^[14]
• 2015: Chi-Raq^[15]
• 2016: Little Sister^[16]
• 2017: Get Out^[17]
• 2018: Madeline's Madeline^[18]
• 2019: The Irishman^[19]
• 2020: Kajillionaire^[20]
• 2021: The French Dispatch^[21]
• 2022: Benediction^[22]
• 2023: Killers of the Flower Moon^[23]
• 2024: Nickel Boys^[24]

Bibliography

Main article: Richard Brody bibliography