The Story of Film: A New Generation
Music Box Films | Release Date: September 9, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
77
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenJul 14, 2021
What sets it soaring is the discerning guide at its helm, one whose curatorial exultation and rigor are also calming, reassuring — a welcome voice in cacophonous times. Read full review
81
TheWrapSteve PondJul 14, 2021
"The Story of Film" is long (though not by Cousins’ standards), it’s infuriating at times (entirely by design) and it overstates its case with defiant glee (again, it meant to do that), but you can’t love movies and not love a good chunk of what Cousins puts on the screen. Read full review
80
Film ThreatJosiah TealSep 20, 2022
A lack of flash or energy does nothing to detract from the sheer depth of film exploration present in The Story of Film: A New Generation. Read full review
80
EmpireSophie Monks KaufmanDec 21, 2021
Inevitably, there is a tacked-on quality here, yet Cousins’ flair for providing visual pleasure means that, like that first champagne cocktail of the night, The Next Generation bubbles with sparkling uplift. Read full review
80
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeDec 17, 2021
It would be wrong to describe A New Generation as a mere coda to The Story of Film. Clocking in at a weighty 160 minutes, the documentary travels to every corner of cinemaspace. Read full review
80
VarietyPeter DebrugeJul 15, 2021
There’s room for infinite points of view behind the camera, as well as among those who do the watching. Offering the tools for unpacking potentially challenging movies, Cousins teaches people how to be better spectators — not by telling them the right way to watch, but by encouraging them to engage more deeply with what they see. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawJul 14, 2021
What is invigorating about The Story of Film is that each new clip, each new comment, is an exercise in back to basics, an exercise in looking, and looking again and looking harder – something that’s even more difficult when it feels like we’re drowning in content. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeMark FeeneySep 8, 2022
Watching “Story,” one realizes that so much of what most of us most love about the movies isn’t the medium, per se, but its appurtenances: stardom and glamour and the pull of narrative. What Cousins loves is the medium. We love the effects. He loves the cause. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChris BarsantiSep 8, 2022
The films collected in A New Generation speak for themselves even when they don’t necessarily slot neatly into Mark Cousins’s curlicue thinking. Read full review
70
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergSep 8, 2022
Cousins’s assessments offer plenty to argue with, but it’s possible to enjoy “A New Generation” without agreeing that “Booksmart” “extends the world of film comedy,” as he claims, or that a shot in “It Follows” merits comparison to the camerawork in Michael Snow’s landmark experimental film “La Région Centrale.” Read full review
70
Screen DailyAllan HunterJul 15, 2021
A New Generation offers no earthshattering conclusions. There is no pretense of covering everything, just a chance to swim in Cousins erudite passion for film and answer his call to keep the faith. Read full review
50
The PlaylistWarren CantrellJul 14, 2021
Cousins is insightful, thorough in his technical comparisons, and well-read in the library of cinema, yet never quite connects his work to a larger tapestry that extends the form. Read full review
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