An Ode To Nathan Rabin

It occurred so suddenly as to leave me in shock. On the night of April 29, 2015, Nathan Rabin's Twitter bio said it as plainly as could be: "Former Dissolve writer". This was no mix-up, no social media snafu, one of my favorite film critics on the interwebs would no longer be a part of the website The Dissolve. I'm sorrowful that Rabin will no longer be a part of that particular website, but I'm confident he'll find work elsewhere. A man with his kind of talent is bound to wind up somewhere that's beneficial to his talents eventually. That kind of talent was, truth be told, influential in me becoming a film critic. For me in the past and the present, reading Rabins work was an eye-opening experience that was influential in making me want to pursue a career in film writing.


I'll never forget, years upon years ago, stumbling upon one of his Year of Flops entries and being mesmerized by this kind of writing. This wasn't someone looking to cynically take down lower quality features in an effort to boost ones own ego, but rather, a man looking meticulously into each frame of such "treasures" as The Oogieloves and Battlefield: Earth and attempting to find what went wrong. Why didn't this resonate? Was there something truly great lurking beneath the surface?

The way Rabin wrote these essays in a manner that managed to be both insightful and witty captivated me to no end, and that wasn't even the only content he created back on The AV Club! Among his many contributions to that website, those classic Simpsons reviews were always great at getting at the core of why that show is so truly beloved, as well as getting across the individual qualities of each episode that made them, as he'd always put it, a good one.

When Rabin, along with other immensely talented AV Clubbers like Tasha Robinson, moved on over to The Dissolve, his knack for analyzing features with less than stellar reputations was brought over to a new feature entitled Forgotbusters. It didn't matter if Rabin was looking at Woody Allen as a neurotic ant, or looking at John Travolta and Tim Allen on motorcycles; the combination of exceptional prose and humor was more than in tact, and his countless other features and reviews on this website just cemented him as a remarkable voice in the world of film criticism.

But even after all this incredible work, I freely admit my favorite pieces of Rabins work may be his Year/World of Flops pieces. Does nostalgia help it become the victor among this authors work? Most certainly. To this day, I can still remember the giddy feeling of euphoria I felt when reading pieces on the likes of Tiptoes, and really, who can't help but smile when a memory like that crosses ones mind? I know that, wherever Rabin winds up in this world, he'll continue to inspire movie lovers, young and old, with that same sense of glee and passion for years to come.

To paraphrase my favorite song from Inside Llewyn Davis:

Fare Thee Well

Nathan

Fare Thee Well