Justin Choigee Chang (born January 3, 1983) is an American film critic and columnist for the Los Angeles Times. He previously worked for Variety.
Early life
Justin Chang graduated from the University of Southern California in 2004. Chang first became interested in film critique while in high school because he found it fascinating that "two or three (or 40 or 50) intelligent people could watch a film and come away with completely different reactions to it."
Career
Chang began his career in 2004. He works for the Los Angeles Times, and is a regular contributor to the NPR programs FilmWeek and Fresh Air. Previously, he was hired at Variety magazine in 2004, and became a senior film critic for the magazine in 2010 before being promoted to its chief film critic in 2013. He is the author of the book FilmCraft: Editing. Chang is the chair of the National Society of Film Critics and the secretary of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. In 2014, he received the inaugural Roger Ebert Award from the African-American Film Critics Association.
While accepting the New Generation Award for Creed at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards ceremony in January 2016, American film director and screenwriter Ryan Coogler praised Chang for his contributions to criticism. Coogler recalled attending the Cannes Film Festival in 2009 as a student filmmaker scrounging tickets and spending his down time in the Variety tent, where a "crazy typing guy" caught his attention.
Chang produces an annual "best-of-the-year" movie list, thereby providing an overview of his critical preferences. His top choices were: 2013: Before Midnight 2014: Boyhood 2015: The Assassin 2016: Silence 2017: Call Me By Your Name 2018: Burning 2019: Parasite 2020: Vitalina Varela 2021: Drive My Car 2022: No Bears
Personal life
Chang is a Christian.