Stephen Holden reviews The Witnesses

Stephen Holden, twenty-year veteran of The New York Times and Yale graduate, reviewed The Witnesses a French film examining human sexuality and relationships under pressure. Stephen Holden was in the music industry for years before he joined the Times, as a staff writer and talent scout for RCA records. He and others one a Grammy in 1986 for best album notes. He became a culture staff member of the Times in 1988 after finishing a stint at Rolling Stone as a music critic. He wrote strictly about music until the mid-1990s when he decided to take on theater in film and is now a first-string movie critic at the Times. A by the books critic, he sometimes sacrifices voice for clarity and authority. The reader knows when he likes something, and if he does its probably worth checking out. This particular film he enjoys, he states plainly, because of its lightheartedness without ignoring the heavier issues implicit in the films sexual themes. However he does explain to the reader that the viewer might require certain “psychological armor.” Its undeniable that Holden is a good fluid writer, though his film reviews might be a little voiceless, he makes his opinion known early on, proves it, and moves on.