New Yorker's Denby decries state of movie industry

David Denby, film critic for the New Yorker magazine, lamented the state of modern movies at a talk to a filled McCosh 50 last night.

The longtime critic and author gave his picks, pans and predictions about the industry while revealing the "nuts and bolts" of the life of a film critic — what he described as "morose creatures of the city dipping in and out of shadows seeking enchantment."

According to Denby, the "golden age" was the '70s, when film schools churned out a crop of new directors by the names of Lucas, Spielberg and Scorcese.

Denby said a "ghastly new style" has come into place, a style of production and distribution he described as "the conglomerate aesthetic" which depends on reaching masses and making money.

"Six conglomerates control eight production companies," he said. "They look for movies that can be cross-marketed in other elements within the conglomerate — that can be turned into games, television shows, CDs, books. My spies tell me that at a studio meeting in L.A., that when the director leaves the room, the executives talk about the project as if it were a collection of digits not a work of art," he said.

Denby went on to argue that this "conglomeratization" permeates even the craft of film criticism.

"Movies have never been covered as much by the press as much as now," he said.

He pointed to The New York Times' double weekend section teeming with movie advertisements and the special Oscar supplement in which all of the Times' film critics gave "a rave review to each of the big movies of the season. You get the message," he said.

"It's all because of the amount of movie ads. It employs a great number of my friends, so I'm not knocking it. But we're not in a great age of movies," he said.

Denby said cinema is devoted to sensation rather than to emotion. If movies are "devoid of local flavor and psychological detail," commercial interests are behind it.

To make money, a movie must generate two and a half times its cost from box office revenue.

"There's a generic quality to the settings now. Toronto doubles for New York 12 times a year. That's because they're going to be marketed overseas," he said.

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Denby's talk was well received. Aspiring filmmaker Ben Lehrer '03 said, "he was the only critic I've ever seen who made me want to listen to him." Lehrer said he generally hates critics because they discourage young artists from pursuing their creative vision. "But [Denby] talked about his vision for movies," he said.

Denby is the author of two books, "Great Books: My Adventures with Homer, Rousseau, Woolf, and Other Indestructible Writers of the Western World." His next book "American Sucker" will be released in January. Denby's talk was designated the J. Edward Farnum Lecture and is part of the University's Public Lecture Series.