Justin Chang

(January 2020)">citation needed] is an American film critic and columnist. He is set to join The New Yorker in February 2024. He previously worked at the Los Angeles Times and Variety.

Justin Chang
Chang at the 2019 Berlin International Film Festival
Born	1983 (age 40–41) Southern California, U.S.
Education	USC
Occupation	Film critic
Years active	2004–present

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 intelligent people could have very different reactions to films.

Chang was hired by 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. In 2016, he joined the Los Angeles Times, where he remained until 2024, when he joined The New Yorker. He is a regular contributor to the NPR programs FilmWeek and Fresh Air.

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.

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
• 2023: All of Us Strangers

Chang is a Christian.

• Chang, Justin C. (2011). FilmCraft: Editing. Focal Press. ISBN 978-0-240-81864-1. OCLC 757148890.