IN THE CRITIC'S CORNER
REVIEWING THE REVIEWER AND CRITIQUING THE CRITIC
By Maximillien de Lafayette
PROBING THE WORLD OF A NEW KIND OF FILM CRITICS
REVIEWING THE REVIEWER AND CRITIQUING THE CRITIC, That Right! For Jami Bernard is a critic and a reviewer. This is what she does for a living.
This is a fabulous woman. Jami Bernard is bright with a blaze intellectualism but, she remains down to earth. SHE flirts with a tragicomic writing style but she freezes and frees her criticism with substance and human depth. Jami Bernard is a cinema critic with a blend of Bernard Shaw satirico-humoristic flair, a well-aged Cognac Napoleon, and an Emile Zola's verita humana with a New York twist. New Yorkers love her column in the New York Daily News. She is an award-winning film critic and the former chairman of the New York Film Critics Circle. She was nominated for that position. She has been reviewing movies since 1986. She did TV too. Her first TV gig was a cable show hosted by Rod Lurie. She appeared on most of the major TV shows including Oprah, Katie Couric, Geraldo, CNN, BBC, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, The Today Show, E! Entertainment, Fox 5 News, ABC News, NBC News, Rolonda, MTV, VH-1 FLIX, Joan Rivers, New York 1, HBO Entertainment News, Inside Edition, A Current Affair, PBS, Montel Williams, Pat Buchanan, and specials on the Oxygen and IFC channels. But believe it or not, she does not watch TV, but occasionally she glances at "Iron Chef," and The Sopranos". Although she loves movies, her main passion is writing. She is a prolific author. She has been published in numerous magazines such as TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly, Glamour, Starlog, Fangoria, Allure, Premiere, Self, Shape, the Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine, and Mamm Magazine. Her literary vitae embraces several published books. "Chick Flicks", "Quentin Tarantino: The Man and His Movies", "The X List: The National Society of Film Critics' Guide to the Movies That Turn Us on", "Total Exposure: The Movie Buff's Guide to Celebrity Nude Scenes", "The Incredible Shrinking Critic : 75 Pounds and Counting: My Excellent Adventure in Weight Loss", "First Films: Illustrious, Obscure, and Embarrassing Movie Debuts", and "Breast Cancer, There and Back: A Woman-to-Woman Guide", to name a few. She lives in Manhattan with her parrot, Sensei, (named after the kung-fu movies of her youth in Queens) and her cats, Tsuko and Buzz.
Photo:
Jami Bernard. Photo credits: Nyfc.
This woman is larger than life. On one hand, she dissects others' works with severe accuracy and on the other hand, she loves junky stuff, gadgets, novelty gizmos, Kung Fu, Bruce Lee, silly Hong Kong fists and double kicks films, martial arts films, science fiction, robot movies, and disreputable places. And in the naivety of those Chinese films fighting scenes, Bernard discovers the meaning of avenging honor, the message of loyalty and accomplishing the impossible against all odds. I was deeply touched by her candid honesty and trembling romanticism when she "dared" to express her feelings about the "seriousness" and "thrills" she found in those Hong Kong flicks. Because, de facto, the plots and scenario rotated and evolved around the themes of honor, bravery and guts! One expects from a fancy and cosmopolitan New Yorker critic to be more discreet about it, and talks about the complicated plots and cinematographic nuances of a complex film, instead. But NO!, Bernard spoke from the heart. And by doing so, she invited us to walk an extra mile with her on the road of trust, fair judgment and unbiased criticism. I love this ancient Phoenician terracotta inscription found in Ougarit: "Simplicity is beauty. And beauty is the supreme truth." You find this beauty and this truth in Bernard's writings. Jami Bernard is romantic and enchantingly lyrical in the way she discovers hidden beauty in dusty, forgotten and unexpected places, including "those magnificent old movies theaters, decorated with Renaissance motifs, bas-reliefs, and Italian frescoes on the ceilings", as Bernard, once said. Another statement by Jami Bernard shed bright light on her integrity and goodness. It goes like this: "No movie critic ever stands up and cheers. And this reminds me of one reason I prefer movies to live theater: I don't want that community experience of a live performance. I want the movie's delicious, chemical surface to isolate me in the darkness and pull me in at the same time." True! mon cher ami, very true!