We should all follow Paul Schrader's lead and write film reviews while on Ambien
Schrader's recent review of True Detective: Night Country is a strong argument for the power of dumb, fun criticism
Right now, the future of arts criticism seems more uncertain than ever. Public opinion is being sourced from Tiktok, YouTube, and Rotten Tomatoes, a notoriously faulty and easily gameable system. Legacy sites like Pitchfork are crumbling at an alarming rate. But throughout it all, one thing remains certain: the appeal of a funny, incisive review from a great writer will never fade. If anyone can save the genre, it’s Paul Schrader and his goofy little Facebook posts.
Schrader—a former film critic now better known as the director behind films like First Reformed and Master Gardener—has been sharing his thoughts on Facebook for some time now. “I can’t really be a film reviewer because there are things you can say that are detrimental to your career,” he told The Independent of his posting habit last month. Besides, he said, Facebook is “very efficient.” For example, social media doesn’t employ any editors who would raise an eyebrow at Schrader’s latest online antics.
The director’s review of True Detective: Night Country starts out legible enough. “True idiosyncratic film geniuses seem simplistic of the surface yet impossible to emulate,” he wrote in a post yesterday. It quickly goes off the rails. “Witness Wender’s Toyko gaga,Which take tine time making a David Lunch. David is generous. I’ve been influenced by him. But to emulate him? That;s like climbing the sHEER SLOO9PES OF mR. cLDDDDDDDDDDCC,” he concludes.
No, Schrader wasn’t actively having a stroke when he posted his blurb. He was just on Ambien, as he revealed in a comment the next morning. And sure, the review is sheer nonsense, but has a TV series or movie really done it’s job if it doesn’t make you want to want to scream “clDDDDDDDDDDCC” when it’s over? Film is an emotional medium—maybe we all need a little outside help to really translate those feelings to the page.
This isn’t the first time Schrader has gone viral for one of his reviews. This fall, his pitch perfect response to Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn also spread like wildfire. “SALTBURN flips the Talented Mr Ripley formula in which the lower class arriviste undermines the establishment with his charm and beauty,” he wrote. “In Saltburn the lower class boy is plain and the object he pursues is beauty personified. It’s an inversion which should not work. And it doesn’t.” Between Schrader’s Facebook posts and Ayo Edebiri’s hilarious Letterboxd reviews, maybe the future of criticism really is just being a little silly.