Manohla Dargis

Manohla June Dargis (born April 7, 1961) is an American film critic. She is one of the chief film critics for The New York Times, along with A. O. Scott. She is a four-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. 2Career Prior to being a film critic for The New York Times, Dargis was a chief film critic for the Los Angeles Times, the film editor at the LA Weekly, and a film critic at The Village Voice, where she had two columns on avant-garde cinema (CounterCurrents and Shock Corridor). Her work has been included in a number of books, including Women and Film: A Sight and Sound Reader and American Movie Critics: An Anthology From the Silents Until Now, published by the Library of America. She wrote a monograph on Curtis Hanson's film L.A. Confidential for the British Film Institute and has served as the president and vice-president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. In 2012, Dargis received the Nelson A. Rockefeller Award from Purchase College; the award is, according to the college, "presented to individuals who have distinguished themselves through their contributions to the arts." In 2013, Matt Barone of Complex named her the eighth-greatest film critic of all time. She was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2018. 2Personal life Dargis grew up in Manhattan's East Village, evincing an early love of film through regular attendance at St. Mark's Cinema and Theater 8