David Thomson (film critic)


David Thomson is a British film critic and historian based in the United States and the author of more than 20 books. His reference works in particular — Have You Seen...?: A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films and The New Biographical Dictionary of Film — have been praised as works of high literary merit and eccentricity. Benjamin Schwarz, writing in The Atlantic Monthly, called him "probably the greatest living film critic and historian" who "writes the most fun and enthralling prose about the movies since Pauline Kael". John Banville called him “the greatest living writer on the movies”.

Biography

Thomson was born in London. He taught film studies at Dartmouth College and has been a regular contributor to The New York Times, Film Comment, Movieline, The New Republic, and Salon. Thomson has served on the selection committee for the New York Film Festival and scripted an award-winning documentary, .
Thomson has written several biographies, novels and unproduced screenplays, including Fierce Heat, which was to be produced by Martin Scorsese and directed by Stephen Frears.
He has confessed that he prefers writing books to film writing.
Thomson lives in San Francisco with his wife and their two sons. On April 1, 2014, the San Francisco International Film Festival announced that Thomson would receive the Mel Novikoff Award at the 57th annual SFIFF.

Personal top 10 films

In the 2012 Sight & Sound poll, Thomson revealed his ten favourite films of all time: