Marshall Fine’s career as a movie reviewer has included stints in Colorado, Kansas and Mississippi. But his love affair with pop culture began in St. Louis Park and then the University of Minnesota, where he wrote for the college paper and the Minneapolis Star.
Fine, the former chairman for the New York Film Critics Circle and director of the 2017 documentary “Robert Klein Still Can’t Stop His Leg,” is now adding novelist to his list of accomplishments. “The Autumn of Ruth Winters,” set in the Twin Cities, came out earlier this week.
Fine, 73, who was sporting a Twins T-shirt, talked about movies recently over steel-cut oatmeal at Golden Valley’s Good Day Cafe.
Q: What movies had an impact on you when you were growing up in the Twin Cities?
A: “Blow-Up” by Michelangelo Antonioni. I remember reading about it in Will Jones’ column in the Minneapolis Tribune and thinking I had to go see it. His column is what turned me on to movies as a teenager. “Blow-Up” changed my mind about what a movie could be. I also was affected by John Cassavetes’ ”Faces,” which I saw in college.
Q: When did you start writing about movies and music?
A: I walked into the Minnesota Daily my first day as a freshman and told them I would review whatever they had, not recognizing that they had older journalists who had been doing that kind of stuff for years. I would write a review on everything that I saw and turn it in. Then one Friday of my freshman year, I opened up the paper’s entertainment section and there were 12 of my reviews. The editor told me that he was given a bunch of extra pages at the last minute. He looked around and saw the big pile of stuff I had been turning in and ran them.
Q: At your peak, how many movies would you see in a week?
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