Goodbye, Village Voice, goodbye.
We'd heard talk of this a few days ago, and now it's being confirmed on Gawker and on blogs like Anthony Kaufman's: Village Voice critic Michael Atkinson was canned a few days ago, and now film editor Dennis Lim has been fired as well. J. Hoberman is the last man standing at what was once one of the great bastions of uncompromising film criticism and coverage, as well as the place several of our favorite critics got their start.
There's a lot of burbling media gossip below the surface here it's not our place to go into — but one thing we do have to wonder is, sans staff and, apparently, interest, will the new Voice continue to review all New York film openings? Alongside the New York Times (and Time Out New York, we suppose) the Voice has been the one of the only reliable print outlet to go to for reviews of the indies opening at theaters like the Quad and the Pioneer.
Tough times, tough times.
Village Voice Watch: Film Editor Dennis Lim Fired
And so it goes. Many of us saw it coming. But just wouldn't, couldn't believe it. But after Ridgeway and Schanberg and Christgau got the axe, a half dozen other senior editors were forced out, and the national syndicate of arts reviewers moved in, it was inevitable that longtime Village Voice film critic/editor Dennis Lim would be next on the chopping block of New Times management.
As Lim leaves the Voice's pages, so, too, do the auteurs he's championed over the years, from Guy Maddin to Spike Jonze, Jia Zhang-Ke to David Lynch, Tsai Ming-liang to Hou Hsiao-hsien. Art-house lovers, we're at the end of an era. Independent distributors IFC Films, Zeitgeist, ThinkFilm, Roadside, Palm, Kock Lorber, Kino, and First Run, if you think you had a friend at alternative weeklies across this country, you can think again. Film critics can also say goodbye to the Voice's annual film poll -- a yearly rite of passage for many critics, both aspiring and established -- which I can't imagine will be renewed under the new management.
Lim -- who, full disclosure, edited many of the pieces I wrote for the Voice -- came up with some of the most hilarious, witty, insightful, political, sharp-fanged film criticism and film packages over the years. The inspired meta-Adaptation cover package was one of the great achievements, stirring rancor in some; praise in others.(The lead story is conspiculously not functioning on the web; for now, check out this exchange with a freelance writer).
Just this year, Lim bravely went ahead and published the first review of United 93, singling out the jingoistic ending later cut for public consumption. And in one of my favorite recent pieces, Lim had me in stitches with his ripping into Memoirs of a Geisha ("You are! To become! Geisha!").
I have no doubt that Lim will end up on his feet -- witness his several recent pieces for the New York Times. It's the rest of us readers I'm worried about. As venerable Voice critic J. Hoberman hangs by a thread, one of the last remaining vestiges of the original paper, it's come time to realize that for those who want a truly alternative newsweekly, throw in the towel, accept the end, the Voice is dead.
