Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Nathan Lee at the Voice: A Selection of His Best Writing

If I've occasionally had my problems with Nathan Lee's critical approach in some of his writing for the Village Voice, I've always looked on his reviews as welcome provocations. So, like many others interested in the state of contemporary criticism, I have great cause to regret his unfortunate dismissal from the paper (quite apart from what the move reveals about corporate attitudes towards the relevance of distinctive, individuated film coverage). Aside from his witty, exuberant prose, what stood out most about Lee's writing was his generous coverage of lesser-known, but important directors, as he used the Voice's wide readership to bring directors like Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Pedro Costa to a larger audience.

Below, I've assembled a series of links to some of Lee's best pieces from his tenure at the Voice, trying to retain a sense of the diversity of writing that he contributed to the paper. The entries are arranged chronologically.

10 Items or Less (November 21, 2006)

Zodiac (February 20, 2007)

Grindhouse (March 27, 2007)

In Between Days (June 19, 2007)

Colossal Youth (July 24, 2007)

Inland Empire DVD (July 31, 2007)

No comments: