Ex-Village Voice Film Critic On His Departure and the State of Criticism

april 25, 2008  03:13 pm
Ex-Village Voice Film Critic On His Departure and the State of Criticism
"In some sense, getting fired from the Voice was maybe the best thing to happen in my career," Nathan Lee tells Rotten Tomatoes. "Before I wrote for the Voice, a certain number of people were familiar with my work ... But I think having been able to write at the Voice for about a year and a half, I got to show a lot of people what I could really do. Because you can write at length and it's very unfettered; you can sort of say whatever you want, and I did." He says he's been fielding a lot of freelance offers since he was dismissed in March. When asked about the nationwide trend of the "disappearing critic," Lee doesn't mince words. "I mean, it's really sad that all these film critics are losing their jobs, but I think most film criticism is terrible. And not useful. And frankly, really boring."