Magazine film review-The Witnesses

As you can see by reading this magazine film review, it is very detailed, formal and academic, as the text makes it an intellectual read, for example, “Somewhat against verisimilitude”, not many people would understand what the critic was trying to say, but it is actually making the unreal, real. Moreover, though there are quite a few pictures in this article, it is a long read as there are many small columns and over two pages in the magazine, immediately showing the audience this is a detailed critic review. Also, in this review there is a breakout box, but it is different to those in other magazines, such as Total Film; this is another side story about the director, André Téchiné, which also comes with a very dark and moody picture of him, portraying to the audience that he is a very serious and confident person, so this will possibly be a good film.

The way this review ‘speaks’ to its audience is quite different to any other from Empire, etc. It assumes a lot about the audience in terms of what they know, and how intellectual they are. It was possibly intended for mature people especially in terms of film, who views film as a type of art. Also, the audience may need to be involved in high culture to understand this review. The critic, Ginette Vincendeau, assumes that the audience is very knowledgeable about French cinema and the language, as it uses some words that we usually do not use, for example, Beur, is from a North African origin.

This film review seems to be split up into sections. The first being where the critic simply introduces the film via references to other films, which is used quite often in magazine reviews. The next part is usually not used in a magazine film review; it is a full synopsis of the film, rather than just an overview. In my opinion, telling a full synopsis ruins the film, and you don’t have to watch it after, however, this is used for people interested in the art of film. The next part of the review is the narrative structure and style, again this isn’t really common, but how the director approached the film maybe accepted as a common aspect of a film review. In our own film review, we may include how we approached the film, but we will definitely not include a full synopsis or the narrative structure because the audiences for short film and art house films are very different, and people will not want to watch it after reading the review.

Furthermore, the next part is a very key and good aspect of the review; it is where the critic says what is bad about the film. After, the critic starts to write about contextual information and academic references. Lastly and most importantly in a magazine film review, there is the closure of the article, where the critic ‘sums up’ the film in a few sentences. Moreover, this is the place where the article puts a call to action, to go to another page in the magazine; this is quite effective because you are almost certain as the critic, that the audience will see it.