For more than a decade, Joe Morgenstern has brightened the weekend of Wall Street Journal readers with his incisive and elegant film criticism. Mr. Morgenstern’s uncommon wisdom about a common art form enlightens millions of Journal readers every Friday. All his Journal colleagues are delighted to see his extraordinary talent recognized with a Pulitzer Prize.

Karen Elliott House
Publisher, The Wall Street Journal

The Passion of the Christ
February 27, 2004 ................................................ 6
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
March 19, 2004 ...................................................... 8
The Terminal; Control Room; Around the World in 80 Days
June 18, 2004 .................................................... 10
Fahrenheit 9/11; The Notebook
June 25, 2004 ............................................................ 12
The Motorcycle Diaries; The Forgotten
September 24, 2004 ..................................................... 14
Sideways; Vera Drake
October 22, 2004 ..................... 16
The Incredibles; Alfie
November 5, 2004 ................................................................. 18
Closer; House of Flying Daggers
December 3, 2004 ............................................... 20
The Aviator; Million Dollar Baby; The Sea Inside; Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events; Spanglish
December 17, 2004 .................. 22
Hotel Rwanda; Meet the Fockers; The Woodsman; The Keys to the House; The Phantom of the Opera
December 24, 2004 ...................................... 24

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by Joe Morgenstern
in the category of Distinguished Criticism. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

The Pulitzer Prize Board
Columbia University
709 Journalism
2950 Broadway
New York, NY 10027

Ladies and Gentlemen:
Joe Morgenstern, a Pulitzer finalist in 2002, is an impassioned lover of movies and endowed with a superb critical ability, all of which he manages to transmit in radiant prose.

To go back and read his reviews of the year’s two most hyped films, Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” and Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11,” is to understand what the controversies were about—and why these films were simultaneously triumphs and failures. Unlike many critics, Mr. Morgenstern is candid in his assessment of their power. At the same time he is unsparing in explaining what went wrong. Read his reviews and a light bulb goes off in your brain—so that’s how they could be great and awful, both hated and loved.

Mr. Morgenstern’s affection for film can be infectious—as in his charming review of “The Incredibles” which, he writes, “heaps delight on delight until you think you can’t take any more without a pleasure break.” Yes, an animated film. Any adult who thinks he’s too old for cartoons will read Joe’s review and rethink his prejudice.

As for films he thinks don’t measure up—well, let’s just say he doesn’t mince words, even when convention dictates otherwise. As a case in point, take his response to Steven Spielberg’s “The Terminal.” This film, which opened to enormous critical acclaim, brought from Mr. Morgenstern the judgment that “The Terminal’’ was “terminally fraudulent” and that “more than ever, moviegoers want to feel good when they can. But ‘The Terminal’ brought me crashing down in dismay at the realization that a film with Steven Spielberg’s name on it could be calculated so unconscionably, and feebly.”

Similarly, Mr. Morgenstern found, in the much-praised “Closer,” an “airless, ultimately joyless drama of sexual politics.” Mr. Morgenstern advised the public heading for a viewing of the Mike Nichols movie to “bring Zoloft and a tank of oxygen.”

Mr. Morgenstern is one of the most distinguished critics writing today. It is a privilege to nominate him again for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism.

Sincerely,
Paul A. Gigot

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