A new documentary on Robert Christgau, The Last Critic, will premiere at SXSW Film Festival this March. Randy Newman, Boots Riley, and Village Voice writer-turned-novelist Colson Whitehead have signed up to tell the story of the self-appointed Dean of American Rock Critics. Naturally, having penned “I Killed Christgau With My Big Fucking Dick,” Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore also chips in to help immortalize his onetime foe.
Matty Wishnow directed the doc, which features music from Newman, Yo la Tengo, the Feelies, and Gina Birch. A murderer’s row of critics also contributed, including Greil Marcus, Ann Powers, Rob Sheffield, Amanda Petrusich, and Kelefa Sanneh. A synopsis on the film’s Instagram page notes that Christgau, whose work “has inspired & infuriated readers for sixty years, is still at it in his eighties—grading records, interrogating commas & listening to absolutely everything (except metal & prog).” Its SXSW premiere will be in the Documentary Feature Competition.
Revisit Pitchfork’s interview with author Devon Powers about how Christgau and his Village Voice colleague Richard Goldstein helped create rock journalism:
