Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” Called “Best and Most Important Film This Century” By Another Film Legend

Finally having your film reviewed by critics is a necessary, often harrowing part of a filmmaker’s journey, when years’ worth of work is summed up and judged in a few hundred words. It can be thrilling, it can be devastating, and it can feel to many like a necessary evil. (You wouldn’t have trouble finding filmmakers who find critics unnecessary, of course.) Yet often the most satisfying praise a filmmaker can receive comes from their contemporaries. Sure, Christopher Nolan must have been happy to survey the media landscape after Oppenheimer had its world premiere in Paris and hailed it as one of his best films. We’d bet, however, the glowing praise he received from fellow filmmaker Paul Schrader, the man who wrote Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, among others, and directed his own work like in the excellent First Reformed, felt even better.

Schrader had this to say about Nolan’s latest on Facebook: “The best, most important film of this century. If you see one film in cinemas this year, it should be Oppenheimer. I’m not a Nolan groupie, but this one blows the doors off the hinges.”

It’s not for nothing to get such love from Schrader, a man not afraid to speak his mind, as evidenced in this great, recent profile of him in the New Yorker.

Nolan’s historical epic is centered on Cillian Murphy’s portrayal of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man who led the Manhattan Project, the United States’ mad rush to build an atomic bomb, during World War II. After the film premiered in Paris, the first reactions were uniformly gushing. “A truly spectacular achievement,” “Fearsome,” and “A character study on the grandest scale.” Here’s a brief peek.

As wonderful as it must feel to see all the hard work you, your cast, and your crew resonate so deeply with critics, to get the kind of love from a filmmaker like Schrader, somebody who has had his share of raves, as well as scathing reviews, must be especially sweet. More critics will be weighing in today, as the review embargo has been officially lifted.

Oppenheimer hits theaters on July 21.

For more on Oppenheimer, check out these stories:

“Oppenheimer” First Reactions: Christopher Nolan’s Historical Epic is Genuinely Mind-Blowing

Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” IMAX Film Prints Are 11 Miles Long & Weigh 600 Pounds

How Christopher Nolan Utilized IMAX Cameras for “Oppenheimer”

Featured image: L to R: Robert Downey Jr is Lewis Strauss and Cillian Murphy is J. Robert Oppenheimer in OPPENHEIMER, written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan.

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The Credits

The Credits is an online magazine that tells the story behind the story to celebrate our large and diverse creative community. Focusing on profiles of below-the-line filmmakers, The Credits celebrates the often uncelebrated individuals who are indispensable to the films and TV shows we love.