Kael

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Lore & Background

Kael was the fifth and last child of Isaac Paul Kael and Judith Kael, Jewish immigrants from Poland, who moved from New York to run a chicken farm in Petaluma, California. Her parents lost the farm when she was eight, and the family moved to San Francisco, where Kael attended Girls High School. In 1936, she matriculated at the University of California, Berkeley, studying philosophy, literature, and art. She dropped out in 1940, intending to go to law school, but instead fell in with a group of artists and moved to New York City with the poet Robert Horan. Three years later, she returned to Berkeley and led a bohemian life, writing plays and working in experimental film. In 1948, she and filmmaker James Broughton had a daughter, Gina James, whom Kael raised alone. Gina had a congenital heart defect that Kael could not afford the surgery to correct.

In Their Own Story

In 1952, Peter D. Martin, the editor of City Lights, overheard Kael arguing about films in a coffee shop with a friend and asked her to review Charlie Chaplin's Limelight (1952). Kael dubbed the film "Slimelight" and began publishing film criticism regularly in magazines. She later said of her writing: "I worked to loosen my style—to get away from the term-paper pomposity that we learn at college. I wanted the sentences to breathe, to have the sound of a human voice." She disparaged the supposed critic's ideal of objectivity, calling it "saphead objectivity," and incorporated aspects of autobiography into her criticism. In a review of Vittorio De Sica's Shoeshine (1946), she described seeing the film after a terrible lovers' quarrel, emerging in tears, and overhearing a college girl complain, "Well I don't see what was so special about that movie." Kael wrote, "If people cannot feel Shoeshine, what can they feel?"

Reader's Guide

Kael broadcast many of her early reviews on Berkeley's alternative public radio station KPFA. From the later part of the 1950s, she was able to make a living as a critic, combining her writing and opinions with running the Berkeley Cinema-Guild and Studio, which she became involved with in 1955 after marrying its owner, Edward Landberg. He paid for Gina's heart surgery, and made Kael the cinema's manager in 1955. She programmed the films at the two-screen facility, "unapologetically repeat[ing] her favorites until they also became audience favorites." She wrote "pungent" capsule reviews that her patrons began collecting. Kael remained in that position until 1960, when she and Landberg divorced. Her first book, I Lost It at the Movies, was published in 1965 and sold 150,000 paperback copies. Upon its success, she and Gina moved to New York and Kael began writing for mass-market publications, including McCall's.

Did You Know?

• Kael's first published review was of Charlie Chaplin's 'Limelight' (1952), which she dubbed 'Slimelight.'
• Her first book, 'I Lost It at the Movies' (1965), sold 150,000 paperback copies.
• Kael's rave review of 'Bonnie and Clyde' (1967) was initially declined by The New Republic but published by The New Yorker, changing the film's critical reception.
• She won the U.S. National Book Award in Arts and Letters for her fourth collection, 'Deeper into Movies' (1973).
• Kael's daughter, Gina James, had a congenital heart defect that Kael could not afford to treat until she married Edward Landberg in 1955.

The Personal Voice: Redefining Film Criticism

Pauline Kael revolutionized film criticism by rejecting the cold, detached standards of objectivity that dominated her field, which she derisively labeled 'saphead objectivity.' Instead, she championed a deeply personal approach where reviews were infused with autobiography and raw human emotion. Her writing style was intentionally crafted to sound like a living, breathing human voice rather than academic term-paper pomposity. This method allowed her to connect the cinematic experience directly to the complexities of daily life, arguing that movies were not just art objects but mirrors for how one might live more intensely. Roger Ebert later noted that she possessed no rigid theories or guidelines; her power lay in her unique subjectivity. Consequently, her reviews transcended mere analysis to become literary works defined by their wit, biting energy, and humor. Like George Bernard Shaw, Kael ensured her writings would endure long after the specific films she discussed faded from memory, proving that a critic's personal passion could be more influential than any objective metric.

Championing Global Cinema and New Hollywood

Kael served as a vital cultural bridge for American audiences, introducing them to the rich textures of international cinema during the 1960s. She gave breathing life to the sensibilities of European masters like Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, and Michelangelo Antonioni, alongside Asian visionaries such as Akira Kurosawa and Satyajit Ray. Her advocacy did not stop at foreign imports; she was equally instrumental in elevating the careers of New Hollywood directors who would define the following decade. By championing figures like Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Altman, and Brian De Palma, she endowed them with a full-bodied presence that helped shape the American film landscape. Her reviews often defied contemporary consensus, offering sharp, highly opinionated perspectives that cut through industry noise. This dual focus on global art-house cinema and emerging American talent cemented her status as one of the most influential critics of her era, fundamentally altering the climate for film in America by validating diverse cinematic voices.

From Bohemian Struggles to Cinema Management

Before achieving national fame, Kael navigated a precarious existence marked by bohemian living and financial hardship. After dropping out of college with dreams of law school that never materialized, she moved to New York before returning to Berkeley, where she supported herself through a steady stream of odd jobs ranging from nanny and seamstress to violin teacher. Her early life was defined by the struggle to raise her daughter, Gina James, alone after a congenital heart defect threatened the child's survival. A turning point arrived in 1955 when she married Edward Landberg, owner of the Berkeley Cinema-Guild; his financial support allowed for Gina's necessary surgery and enabled Kael to become the cinema's manager. In this role, she ran every aspect of the thriving business, unapologetically programming her favorite films until they became audience favorites. She also wrote pungent capsule reviews that patrons began collecting, proving her ability to blend commercial management with critical acumen before eventually moving toward mass-market publication.

The Spark of a Career and Lasting Legacy

Kael's entry into professional criticism was sparked by a chance encounter in a Berkeley coffee shop in 1952. Peter D. Martin, an editor for City Lights magazine, overheard her passionately arguing about films with a friend and subsequently asked her to review Charlie Chaplin's 'Limelight.' Kael playfully dubbed the film 'Slimelight,' marking the beginning of her regular publication in magazines. Her early work was often broadcast on alternative public radio station KPFA, further amplifying her unique voice before she secured national platforms. Decades later, her impact remained profound; Roger Ebert argued that no single person had a more positive influence on the American film climate over the last three decades than Kael. She viewed criticism as something new added to human experience, a sentiment rooted in her childhood exposure to silent films like 'Intolerance' and 'The Passion of Joan of Arc.' Her legacy is defined not just by specific reviews, but by how she taught readers to feel more deeply about art and life itself.