...thought this was the most glorious piece of cinema ever created. And, like sheep, subsequent generations of critics have climbed aboard the bandwagon lest they be thought of as aesthetic philistines.
Whatever. I found the film very boring.
And before you accuse me of having no taste, I thought Ophuls' Letter from an Unknown Woman was brilliant, deep, and moving -- everything that this movie is not.
like sheep, subsequent generations of critics have climbed aboard the bandwagon lest they be thought of as aesthetic philistines.
So, everybody who likes this film is sheep. And why? Beccause YOU don't like it.
I'm not accusing you of having no taste; I'm accusing you of being self-centered and arrogant for appointing yourself sole arbiter of what is good and what is not.
So, as any good New York Elite would say, "Bite me."
>> I'm accusing you of being self-centered and arrogant for appointing >> yourself sole arbiter of what is good and what is not.
And I accuse you of not bothering to read what I wrote, or of deliberately distorting it. What part of "subsequent generations of CRITICS" do you not understand? Did I say "subsequent generations of VIEWERS?" No, I absolutely did not. And I'm speaking of a very particular type of critic, one that slavishly follows the opinions of another. Pauline Kael, for example, was one that had an ever-reliable gang of toadies -- her acolytes were even (derisively) referred to as "Paulettes." Denby, Rafferty, Wolcott, et al. This is the group that found it necessary to love everything that she loved -- or MIGHT have loved after she passed away. Every Robert Altman film or Brian De Palma film was a treasure to behold because they thought that is how Queen Pauline would have felt. You may think yourself an "elite" but a true student of film criticism will know exactly the type of critic I'm referring to and would not have needed the foregoing explanation.
OP: you rail at critics you label disciples of Kael (the fact that they simply agree with her to you automatically makes them "toadies"), but you're incapable of supporting your dislike of "Earrings" with any substantive argument. The best you can do is say "It's boring." Your critical abilities are no better than the average middle-schooler's.
At least Kael, et al could present criteria on which they based their opinions. You could learn a lot from them.