By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Matty Wishnow
Year: 2026
Running time: 83
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt39367761
Peter says: “I had the interesting experience of seeing The Last Critic – a documentary about legendary music critic Robert Christgau – seated amongst a crowd of film critics in the audience!
“Christgau, over many decades, seemed to perfect the art of the concise, ‘consumer guide’ review. Even when I thought his music takes were abominable (like trashing Black Sabbath’s debut??), they almost read like little angry, sharp poems. The best part of the doc was honestly just having people read his words.
“But making a dynamic feature film about a guy who spends most of his day sitting behind a computer, listening to endless CDs and albums and pecking away at a keyboard, is not an easy task. The story feels a little stretched thin, focusing on his relationship with his longtime wife for a while, then showing some more reviews, back to them walking around, reminiscing, then back to the reviews.
“In an age where the role of ‘professional critic’ is practically unheard of, thanks to democratizing apps like Letterboxd, it was still an interesting career retrospective on an eccentric writer who may have pissed off artists like Lou Reed and Sonic Youth, but whose words packed a lot of depth into a very small space.