David Denby

David Denby
Name	David Denby
Birth date	1943
Birth place	New York City, New York, United States
Occupation	Film critic, journalist, author
Alma mater	Columbia University, Harvard University
Notable works	The New Yorker film criticism, Great Books, American Sucker

David Denby

David Denby is an American film critic and journalist known for his long tenure at The New Yorker and his books on cinema, politics, and culture. He has written about filmmakers, actors, and films across mainstream and art-house traditions, engaging with figures from Alfred Hitchcock to Akira Kurosawa and institutions such as The New Yorker and The Atlantic. Denby's criticism intersects with debates involving publications like The New York Times, The Village Voice, and Sight & Sound and commentators including Roger Ebert, Pauline Kael, and Andrew Sarris.

Early life and education

Denby was born in New York City and raised amid the cultural institutions of the city, near museums like the Museum of Modern Art and theaters on Broadway (Manhattan). He studied literature and history, attending Columbia University for undergraduate studies and later pursuing graduate work at Harvard University, where he encountered scholars associated with the Great Books tradition and courses influenced by figures at Oxford University and Cambridge University. During his formative years he was exposed to New York intellectual circles tied to The Nation, Commentary (magazine), and the Partisan Review.

Career

Denby began his career writing for regional and national outlets, contributing to New York Magazine, Esquire, and The Atlantic Monthly before joining The New Yorker as a staff critic. His work placed him amid critical debates involving other reviewers at The New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post. Over decades he reviewed films by directors such as Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Orson Welles, Billy Wilder, John Ford, Sergio Leone, Wong Kar-wai, Hayao Miyazaki, and Pedro Almodóvar. Denby also engaged with film festivals and institutions including the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

He has taught at universities and participated in symposia alongside academics from Columbia University, New York University, University of California, Los Angeles, Yale University, and Princeton University. His public commentary intersected with cultural debates represented by outlets like Slate, The Guardian, The Observer, and BBC News. Denby has been involved with film preservation conversations alongside organizations such as the Library of Congress, UCLA Film & Television Archive, and the British Film Institute.

Major works and critical approach

Denby's books and essays address cinema, politics, and memoir. His works discuss film history and the craft of filmmaking while referencing directors, actors, and films across national cinemas such as Hollywood, French New Wave, Italian Neorealism, Japanese cinema, and German Expressionism. He has written about screenwriters and auteurs including Billy Wilder, Roman Polanski, Robert Altman, Woody Allen, Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, Andrei Tarkovsky, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, and Yasujiro Ozu. Denby’s essays appear in anthologies alongside pieces by Pauline Kael, Andrew Sarris, Nicholas Ray, Stanley Kauffmann, and J. Hoberman.

His critical method combines historical knowledge of studios such as Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 20th Century Fox, and United Artists with attention to performance by actors like Marlon Brando, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, and Meryl Streep. Denby often frames films in relation to movements and moments—referencing New Hollywood, Classical Hollywood cinema, British New Wave, and German New Wave—and dialogues about screenplay structure, mise-en-scène, cinematography by figures like Roger Deakins and Sven Nykvist, and scoring by composers such as Ennio Morricone and John Williams.

Major books include explorations of American culture and education that intersect with debates involving Harvard University, Columbia University, Yale University, and policy discussions in publications like The New Republic and National Review. His memoirs and cultural histories engage with writers such as George Orwell, Truman Capote, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, James Agee, Susan Sontag, and Lionel Trilling.

Awards and recognition

Throughout his career Denby received honors and recognition from institutions like the National Society of Film Critics, the Online Film Critics Society, and journalism awards administered by organizations including the PEN America and the Pulitzer Prize committees (as context in critical conversation). Film societies and universities have invited him for fellowships and lecture series at places like Harvard University, Columbia University, and the University of Chicago. Film festivals and archival organizations have honored critics with retrospectives and panel invitations from the Cannes Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and the Telluride Film Festival.

Personal life and legacy

Denby's personal life includes residence in New York City and longstanding involvement in the city's cultural life, frequenting venues such as Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Hall, and independent cinemas in neighborhoods like Greenwich Village and SoHo, Manhattan. His legacy is reflected in discussions with contemporaries and successors including Manohla Dargis, A. O. Scott, Stephanie Zacharek, Peter Travers, David Thomson, and #Richard Corliss about the role of criticism in public culture. Denby’s body of work continues to be cited in scholarship at institutions such as Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and journals like Film Quarterly, Sight & Sound, and Cahiers du Cinéma.

Category:American film critics Category:The New Yorker people