In a field historically bereft of women, a Pauline Kael byline guaranteed a conspicuously personal and often polarizing film assessment. Prior to a decades-long berth at The New Yorker, Pauline evolved from neo-Bohemian and struggling single mother into a best-selling author and one of the most powerful movie critics of the 20th century. She deployed her loaded prose and charged observations to famously champion the New Hollywood Cinema of the late ‘60s and ‘70s and sharpened her wit to mercilessly wound the studio productions she loathed. Her feud with the late Village Voice critic Andrew Sarris and opposition to the exclusivity of the “auteur theory” he promoted captivated their divided devotees and peers.
Upon Kael death, the late Roger Ebert’s stated, “Pauline Kael had a more positive influence on the climate for film in America than any other single person over the last three decades.”
Featuring friends and filmmakers Quentin Tarantino, Paul Schrader and Francis Ford Coppola with contributions from intellectual Camille Paglia and critics Molly Haskell, Greil Marcus and David Edelstein.
“Her writing pulsated with life, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t parsing everything with supreme braininess and reasoning and inquiry…. An exquisitely crafted documentary about the woman who was arguably the greatest movie critic who ever lived.” —Owen Gleiberman, Variety
“There’s something universal about the fascination, both admiring and begrudging, that surrounds the cult of Pauline…. Paints a vivid picture of the landscape Kael savoured and shaped.” —Ella Kemp, Little White Lies
“To see Rob Garver's affectionate documentary about Kael's career is to be once again swept away by the excitement of cinema as she experienced it.” —James Greenberg, The Wrap
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Beyond the synopses, trailers and review links on our website, other sources of information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.
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