Working Knowledge: Natalia Winkelman ’11 Has Her Dream Job
Freelance film critic Natalia Winkelman ’11 has been reviewing movies for the New York Times since 2019. As a writer and producer, she has also helped create award-winning documentary podcasts, including The Plot Thickens for Turner Classic Movies, about what it took to make iconic films such as The Bonfire of the Vanities and Cleopatra. We caught up with this film buff about what it’s like to watch and respond to movies for a living.
When did your passion for movies start?
I’d always enjoyed movies, but I had never thought about them in an academic context until I started taking classes with Justin Bull P’25 ’28 and fell in love with film at CA. Justin had all of these Film Comment magazines, and I just loved reading the film criticism in those. My best friend, Dani Girdwood ’11, and I did an independent study to make an unscripted hybrid documentary-narrative short film. We were going to grow up and be directors (she just directed her first feature, by the way). My skill set was more in writing, but I applied to college as a film major because of Justin’s classes. It’s so rare to have a full film program in high school. When I tell people about it now, their jaws drop.
How did you break into this field?
When I took a film criticism class in college, I remembered, oh, that’s something a person can do. I had figured I’d end up in academia or work in the film industry in some capacity, but film criticism was the dream. I went back to school and earned a master’s through a cultural reporting and criticism program at NYU. Then I got my first big entertainment writing job at the Daily Beast.
What’s it like to be a film critic?
It’s lots of fun. I go to screenings and some film festivals and cover for various outlets, not just the Times, though I’ve had a weekly assignment for seven years. I watch a lot of documentaries, but it’s a total hodgepodge. The more you watch, the more well-versed you are in the current film landscape and in film history, so it’s been kind of a project: to watch everything I can. There’s a robust film scene in New York. I see myself in the world of film enthusiasts—thinking about films, analyzing how one piece works in the larger cultural landscape.
How do you approach reviewing?
I don’t think about being a tastemaker. It’s just my take. I’ve studied film and bring some expert knowledge, but I also bring my own sensibility and biases. I’m making something when I’m writing, just like the filmmaker is making something. For the Times, I usually have only 250 to 300 words, sometimes longer for a big movie. I had to train myself to write that short. Now it’s become a precision exercise to pick the most salient things to say. One of the guiding rules of criticism is to take a movie on its own terms. My voice will start to echo the tone of the film. If it’s a comedy, I can be more playful. If it’s a serious drama, I’ll take it more straight. The only movies I really go hard on are huge studio releases. I would never be cruel to a first film or an indie.
What’s the best writing advice you ever got?
When I was in graduate school, a lot of people were saying there are no writing jobs, there’s no money. Someone told me, “There are never any jobs, there’s never any money, but there is always a dearth of good writing. So if you have a strong voice, your writing will be read.” That really helped me refocus on improving my writing rather than positioning myself for a job, which was a lot healthier for me. Just focus on the work and what you love doing.
Describe an ideal trip to the cinema.
I’d watch an Ernst Lubitsch movie, To Be or Not to Be. It’s an audacious, hilarious World War II comedy. I’d bring all my friends. From the concession stand, I’d get Sno-Caps, Junior Mints, and a large Diet Coke. You know, this movie is so underseen. It would make a good CA class, about how Lubitsch approaches comedy: The Lubitsch Touch. I’m going to pitch this to Justin Bull.
