NYT Defense: Strangers in Japan’s Neon Wonderland

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/movies/01lim.html?pagewanted=1&ref=movies

For my New York Times defense, I chose to critique “Strangers in Japan’s Neon Wonderland,” by Dennis Lim. Dennis Lim writes about film and popular culture for various publications including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Believer, The Oxford American, Blender, Spin, Espous, Indiewire, New York Daily News, and The Guardian. He’s also a member of the National Society of Film Critics and the editor of the Village Voice Film Guide (2006). “Strangers” is a review in last Wendesday’s NYT arts section on “Tokyo!” a triptych feature by directors Michele Gondry, Bong Joon-ho, and Leos Carax about life in 21st Century Tokyo.
Lim’s review of this triple-feature is quite unorthodox; his avid interest in modern Japan expands his review to encompass a wide array of books and films concerning Tokyo and contemporary Japan. His knowledge is quite exhaustive in this category, and he sweeps through concise explanations of the actors and directors involved in the movie, brief reviews of numerous works concerning Tokyo, and social commentary on the development and uniqueness of modern Japan in ceaseless fluidity, deft vocabulary, and an unquestionable authority on all maters Japanese. This is a professional critical writer in his element, on his favorite subject.