Manohla June Dargis is an American film critic. She is the chief film critic for The New York Times. She is a five-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.

Career

Before being a film critic for The New York Times, Dargis was a chief film critic for the Los Angeles Times, the film editor at the LA Weekly, and a film critic at The Village Voice, where she had two columns on avant-garde cinema ("CounterCurrents" and "Shock Corridor"). Her work has been included in a number of books, including Women and Film: A Sight and Sound Reader and American Movie Critics: An Anthology from the Silents Until Now, published by the Library of America. She wrote a monograph on Curtis Hanson's film L.A. Confidential for the British Film Institute and served as the president and vice-president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. In 2012, Dargis received the Nelson A. Rockefeller Award from Purchase College; the award is, according to the college, "presented to individuals who have distinguished themselves through their contributions to the arts." She was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019.

Preferences

Favorites

Dargis participated in the 2012 Sight & Sound critics' poll, where she listed her 10 favorite films: For the 2022 edition of the Sight & Sound poll Dargis' ballot included:

Best of the Year

Personal life

Dargis grew up in Manhattan's East Village, demonstrating an early love of film through regular attendance at St. Mark's Cinema and Theatre 80. She graduated from Hunter College High School and received her BA in literature from State University of New York at Purchase in January 1985. She received a master of arts in cinema studies in 1988 from the New York University Graduate School of Arts and Science. Dargis married wine expert Lou Amdur in 1994. They live in Los Angeles.