Based in propositions of the theory of reception, in the field of sociology of the culture, this paper discusses the role of the cinematographic review starting from two positions: the one that defends 'author's movies' and the one that assumes a supposed end of the critical function. The persistent debate opposing art or author's movies ('refined') to ('easy') industrial and massive ones seems as old as movies themselves and reduces movies to the mere opposition of 'art versus industry'. That seems still today as an fulcral argument in the field of criticism. The complexification of cinematographic and artistic thought implies in a displacement of its reception and, consequently, of its sociology. In that sense, one intends to debate the possible relocalizations of concepts, such as the ones that reduce movies to high' versus 'low' and 'educated' versus 'vulgar'.
cinematographic critic; sociology of the culture; reception theory