Anthony Lane facts for kids

Anthony Lane is a British writer who was a famous film critic for The New Yorker magazine. He wrote reviews for the magazine from 1993 to 2024.

A Critic's Journey

Education and Early Career

Anthony Lane went to Sherborne School and later studied English at Trinity College, Cambridge. After college, he worked as a freelance writer and reviewed books for a newspaper called The Independent.

In 1991, he became the film critic for The Independent on Sunday, where he shared his opinions on new movies.

Writing for The New Yorker

In 1993, Lane was invited to become a film critic for The New Yorker, a very well-known American magazine. He worked there for over 30 years.

Besides movie reviews, he wrote about famous actors and directors like Alfred Hitchcock and Buster Keaton. He also wrote about authors like Ian Fleming (who created James Bond) and the creator of the Tintin comics, Hergé.

In 2002, a book called Nobody's Perfect was published. It was a collection of 140 of his best reviews and essays from The New Yorker. The title is a famous last line from the movie Some Like It Hot.

How He Wrote His Reviews

Lane was known for his clever and often funny writing style. He even shared five "rules" for anyone who wanted to become a film critic.

Lane's Rules for Critics

In his book Nobody's Perfect, Lane listed five rules for new movie critics:

1. Don't read the ads or promotional material for a movie.
2. If you can, watch a movie with regular people, not just other critics.
3. Watch all kinds of movies, not just the big, popular ones.
4. Review a movie right after it comes out, or wait 50 years.
5. Try not to make the same mistake he did one summer.

The fifth rule comes from a funny story. He once rushed into a screening of the science fiction movie Contact on a very sunny day. He started taking notes, writing that the movie looked "v. gloomy" and "creepy." After 45 minutes, he realized he was still wearing his dark sunglasses.

A Unique Writing Style

Lane often changed his writing style to match the movie he was reviewing. When he reviewed the animated movie The Prince of Egypt, he copied its short, dramatic style. He wrote: "The time is then. The place is Egypt. The boy is born... The picture is O. K. The picture is fine."

He was also known for his witty and sometimes sharp comments. For the movie The Scarlet Letter, which used old-fashioned language poorly, he simply wrote, "Thou hast to be kidding."

Lane believed that movies could bring back powerful memories. He remembered watching movies like Earthquake as a kid. Even though he knew other films from that time were considered "great art," the movies he saw as a child were burned into his memory.

Awards and Recognition

In 2001, Anthony Lane won the National Magazine Award for his reviews. The award recognized three of his articles from The New Yorker:

• A review of the movie The Sound of Music
• An article about the photographs of Walker Evans
• A piece about photos taken during the Apollo program moon missions

He was also considered for this award in other years for his articles on director Alfred Hitchcock and authors André Gide and Evelyn Waugh.

Many people admired his writing. Reviewer Nicholas Lezard said that if a film was good, Lane explained why in a clear way, and if a film was bad, "he has some fun." In 2008, he was named one of the top 30 critics in the world.

Personal Life

Lane used to live in Cambridge, England, with his former partner, Allison Pearson, who is also a writer.