Things have settled into a groove with the 2026 Milwaukee Film Festival. Just in time for an early trip to see THE LAST CRITIC on a Sunday morning essentially being a late career spotlight on legendary rock music critic Robert Christgau, although everyone calls him Bob in the movie.
THE LAST CRITIC is kind of a misnomer. Robert Christgau was pretty much the first rock music critic and his influence is vast. With his famous consumer guide he broke new ground. And he’s as much known for the content of his reviews as the fact that he pioneered the capsule review ending in a letter grade. So much so that I was tempted just to do a capsule review and a letter grade as a review.
I decided not to do so because it wouldn’t really do justice to Matty Wishnow’s documentary which serves as a full-blown portrait of the critic as an old man after a career, not concluded, of groundbreaking work. We get to see Christgau at home, at work, his method, his immense archive of records, cds, cassettes, and books, his personal life, including a lovely look at his wife Carola Dibbell, his history, critics that worked with him or were inspired by him, and artists that were on the receiving end of praise and criticism. Probably most importantly, and why his capsule style of criticism are efficient, revealing, and intellectually sturdy we get to hear numerous of his reviews read out loud which makes quite a compelling case for him. In this way, the form of his writing is perfectly suited to be captured onto film.
It pretty much is everything you could ask for in a documentary about Robert Christgau. Maybe it doesn’t really address the existential crisis around professional criticism itself. I’d kind of want to hear Christgau’s thoughts on the “democratization” of criticism today. But, I think you can guess at them given the high standards he had as an editor and his challenging the need to just be kind in the hopes of a paycheck or free records. That’s kind of the beauty of Christgau himself and his writing. He leaves no mystery about what he’s really thinking. And the film gets in and out in a concise 82 minutes. It’s not groundbreaking, but it expresses what it wants to say professionally and with clarity.
And that’s kind of not-quite-a-capsule review. Grade B+.
The 2026 Milwaukee Film Festival runs from April 16, 2026 until May 30, 2026. THE LAST CRITIC plays once more at the film festival on April 23, 2026 at the Oriental Theatre at 1:30 pm. Tickets to THE LAST CRITIC and other upcoming films can be purchased at MKEFILM.ORG.
