Filmmaking and production Books

Book SynopsisThis book provides the most complete account of Paul Thomas Anderson’s career to date, encompassing his evolution from a self-anointed auteur to one of his generation’s most distinctive voices. It is at once an unconventional primer on Anderson’s films and a provocative reframing of what makes his work so essential.Trade ReviewThe Cinema of Paul Thomas Anderson is a feast of a book. With consummate clarity and inventiveness, Warren brings the films into rich, often fractious dialogue with one another. The results are extraordinarily illuminating. The entire book is infused with the kind of energy and delectable unpredictability that I associate with Anderson’s art at its best. Warren’s study shakes up conventional approaches to director-centered analysis in a fashion that will have lasting influence. -- George Toles, University of Manitoba, author of Paul Thomas AndersonEthan Warren should be commended for his razor-sharp analysis and rich knowledge of Anderson’s unique perspective and worldview, as well as Anderson’s contribution to American cinema. Warren leaves no stone unturned in this book, and his insightful enthusiasm makes these multifaceted films come alive through his careful study of Anderson’s life and influences. -- Whitney Crothers Dilley, author of The Cinema of Wes AndersonSmart and compelling. -- Christopher Schobert * The Film Stage *[Warren] brings his cinephilic eloquence to bear upon unknotting the enigmatic plots of, or characters in, Anderson’s films as well as Anderson’s ethos. To be sure, this is not a film theory text. Rather, Warren’s biography holds this boy genius (or brat) up to the light like a prism and slowly allows every refraction of Anderson to shine. -- Hannah Bonner * Senses of Cinema *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsForeword, by Lindsay ZoladzIntroduction1. On Paul Thomas Anderson’s Career to Date2. On Places and Spaces3. On Influence4. On Domesticity5. On Screenwriting6. On Gender Performance7. On Alienation Effects8. On Faith and Belief9. On Music Videos10. On HistoryNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisVoyages of Discovery is the definitive account of Frederick Wiseman’s career, offering a comprehensive analysis of the work of the leading documentary filmmaker in the United States. In this updated edition, Barry Keith Grant adds new material exploring the documentarian’s works since the 1990s.Trade ReviewBarry Keith Grant provides an updated version of his own singularly authoritative study of documentarian Frederick Wiseman’s astonishing range of films—from the controversial Titicutt Follies through such diverse examples as Meat, Missile, Model, Deaf, Blind, Public Housing, Ballet, and Belfast, Maine, to name a few. In his deeply informed study, Grant creates his own meticulous, yet accessible, “tapestry” of inquiry worthy of the same approach he credits Wiseman with adopting. Grant’s insightful readings of Wiseman’s carefully wrought compositions—and the happy accidents that sometimes occur—highlight colorful thematic threads woven to create the “reality fictions” Wiseman, in his own words, is producing. At the same time, Grant presents a capacious “mosaic,” placing Wiseman’s films in textured dialogue, not only with each other, but also with works of literature, art, theater, music, and dance, along with other films and Hollywood genres, that inform them. Grant explores Wiseman’s penetrating vision of institutional operations—the human interactions that sustain them and the ideological underpinnings beneath the “rules” that govern them. As Grant compellingly claims, Wiseman avoids providing viewers with easy answers. Voyages of Discovery powerfully uncovers the ambiguities inviting viewers to democratically, actively, and reflexively assess their own participation in, contributions to, and complicity within the cultural conditions Frederick Wiseman so evocatively observes. -- Cynthia Lucia, Rider UniversityVoyages of Discovery is one of the very best books of film analysis and scholarship that I've ever read. It is certainly the essential work about a major film-maker, whose films require special tools and sensitivities to discuss, which Grant possesses in abundance. This is a most useful work both for those just discovering Wiseman and those who think they know him. Great ideas abound on every page, and Grant's organization of the films is original and helpful. Exemplary as well are the carefully selected frame enlargements, which nicely support his close analysis of visual issues. Grant's ability to bring in relevant ideas from both film study and beyond it is the mark of an eminent scholar. That Grant discusses the entirety of Wiseman's prodigious output, in depth and entertainingly, is also quite an accomplishment. -- Stephen Mamber, author of Cinema Verite in America: Studies in Uncontrolled DocumentaryThis is the new edition we have been waiting for. Barry Keith Grant provides an essential companion to Frederick Wiseman, one of the most distinctive and prominent voices in US documentary. Voyages of Discovery offers perceptive and in-depth analyses of Wiseman's vast catalogue, ranging from the 1960s to his most recent work. Grant foregrounds the ways Wiseman's films have not only documented institutions but have challenged their established practices, encouraging audiences to meaningfully engage with and question the hierarchies and fraught political dynamics encountered in everyday life. This study matches the subtlety and resistance to reductive narratives found in Wiseman's own films, revealing why his work remains compelling and necessary viewing that continues to speak to the present day. -- Jeffrey Geiger, author of American Documentary Film: Projecting the NationThis revised edition of Voyages of Discovery is updated and expanded to cover Wiseman’s prodigious output over the decades since the original appeared. Supplemented and supported by a range of secondary sources from diverse fields spanning film studies, sociology, art history, and political science (among so many others), Grant develops a portrait of a working filmmaker that is informed and definitive. -- Michael Baker, Sheridan CollegeThe time is right for a second edition, and this year's 'revised and expanded' version rises to the occasion. * Journal of American Culture *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPrefaceIntroduction1. Man with a Movie Camera2. American Madness: Titicut Follies (1967), High School (1968), Law and Order (1969), Hospital (1970), Juvenile Court (1974), Welfare (1975)3. The Big Parade: Basic Training (1971), Manoeuvre (1979), Missile (1988)4. Blood of the Beasts: Primate (1974), Meat (1976), Racetrack (1985), Zoo (1993)5. When Worlds Collide: Canal Zone (1977), Sinai Field Mission (1978), Model (1980), The Store (1983)6. The Bad and the Beautiful: The Cool World (1963), Seraphita’s Diary (1982)7. You and Me: Essene (1972), Blind (1987), Deaf (1987), Adjustment and Work (1987), Multi-Handicapped (1987), Aspen (1991)8. Love and Death: Near Death (1989)9. The Never-Ending Story: High School II (1994), Public Housing (1997), Domestic Violence (2001), Domestic Violence 2 (2002)10. Playtime: Ballet (1995), La Comédie-Française, ou L’amour joué (1996), The Last Letter (2002), La Danse—Le Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris (2009), Boxing Gym (2010), Crazy Horse (2011), National Gallery (2014), A Couple (2022)11. Our Town: Central Park (1989), Belfast, Maine (1999), State Legislature (2007), At Berkeley (2013), In Jackson Heights (2015), EX-LIBRIS: The New York Public Library (2017), Monrovia, Indiana (2018), City Hall (2020)FilmographyIndividual AwardsRetrospective ScreeningsNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book Synopsis This in-depth study of Mexican film director Alejandro González Iñárritu explores his role in moving Mexican filmmaking from a traditional nationalist agenda towards a more global focus. Working in the United States and in Mexico, Iñárritu crosses national borders while his movies break the barriers of distribution, production, narration, and style. His features also experiment with transnational identity as characters emigrate and settings change. In studying the international scope of Iñárritu''s influential films Amores Perros, 21 Grams, and Babel, Celestino Deleyto and María del Mar Azcona trace common themes such as human suffering and redemption, chance, and accidental encounters. The authors also analyze the director''s powerful visual style and his consistent use of multiple characters and a fragmented narrative structure. The book concludes with a new interview with Iñ&aTrade Review"An excellent analysis of the director’s style."--PopMatters"An important contribution on the work of one of the most interesting contemporary filmmakers. Through meticulous analysis and attention to detail, style and structure, the authors offer an in-depth analysis of the work of Alejandro González Iñárritu."--Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies"A model of impeccable scholarship and writing. Alejandro González Iñárritu is unquestionably one of the most interesting and important contemporary filmmakers in Latin America, and this study demonstrates a solid and secure understanding of Iñárritu's role in moving Mexican filmmaking toward a more globalized focus."--David William Foster, author of Mexico City and Contemporary Mexican Filmmaking

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Book SynopsisProfiles the most influential women directors practicing today, examining their career paths, artistry, and major achievements.Trade Review "Comprehensive and stimulating, this work gives readers a broader understanding of the challenges that women directors encounter and highlights their impressive achievements. Recommended for theatre practitioners and students, aspiring women directors, and gender studies scholars."--Ann Marie Gardinier Halstead, St. Lawrence University "A unique examination of women in the arts, created as a reference point for students, researchers, and theater practitioners. Recommended."--Booklist "Recommended."--ChoiceTable of ContentsIntroduction Anne Fliotsos 1 Argentina May Summer Farnsworth and Brenda Werth 5 Australia Laura Ginters 18 Brazil Alessandra Vannucci 30 Bulgaria Vessela S. Warner 43 Canada Gordon McCall 56 China Jiangyue Li 70 Cuba Ileana Azor 83 Czech Republic Mirenka Cechova 95 Egypt Dalia Basiouny 109 France Kate Bredeson 122 Germany Ursula Neuerburg-Denzer 136 Great Britain Adam J. Ledger 148 Greece Avra Sidiropoulou 161 India Erin B. Mee 174 Ireland Karin Maresh 187 Kenya Margaretta Swigert-Gacheru 198 Mexico Ileana Azor 211 Pakistan Claire Pamment 223 Poland Magda Romanska 237 Romania Diana Manole 251 Russia Maria Ignatieva 264 South Africa Marie-Heleen Coetzee and Lliane Loots 277 Taiwan Iris Hsin-chun Tuan 291 United States of America Anne Fliotsos and Wendy Vierow 303

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Book SynopsisConsider the usual view of film noir: endless rainy nights populated by down-at-the-heel boxers, writers, and private eyes stumbling toward inescapable doom while stalked by crooked cops and cheating wives in a neon-lit urban jungle. This book offers a collection of essays that reassesses the genre's iconic style, history, and themes.Trade ReviewNominee for Edgar® Award, Best Critical/Biographical category, 2015. A Choice Outstanding Academic Title, 2015. "A thrilling example of the possibilities of renewed scholarly attention to the classic noir period. Its broad range of novel topics and uniformly astute analyses reframe and open up the field of film noir study in provocative and insightful ways that herald a new phase in scholarship not only of the genre but of Classic Hollywood itself."--David Greven, author of Psycho-Sexual: Male Desire in Hitchcock, De Palma, Scorsese, and Friedkin"An invaluable resource for anyone interested in film noir. Essential."-Choice“The essays in Kiss the Blood off My Hands seek fresh angles on a genre that has attracted so much scholarship that the academic field has its own worn tropes: German Expressionism, post-war ambience, gender politics. Several essays in Robert Miklitch’s edited collection advance the study of film noir by attending to previously neglected aspects of style.”--Times Literary Supplement

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Book SynopsisExplores the emotional tenor of Terence Davies' work by focusing on four paradoxes within the director's oeuvre: films that are autobiographical yet fictional; melancholy yet elating; conservative in tone and theme yet radically constructed; and obsessed with the passing of time yet frozen in time and space.Trade Review"A significant contribution to the field. Koresky is able to both chart the development of Davies' cinema, while convincingly conveying the coherence and continuity of both theme and style at the heart of this very singular auteur." --Duncan Petrie, author of Creativity and Constraint in the British Film Industry"Britain's finest living director finally gets the analytic overview and close reading that he deserves. . . . Koresky is especially perceptive. Recommended."--Choice"Michael Koresky's study of Davies is above all attuned to the contradictions that define his life and inform his work, namely 'beauty and ugliness, the real and the artificial, progression and tradition, motion and stasis.' Koresky unpacks the paradoxes intrinsic to Davies's project with clarity and rigor, dividing his aesthetic among the fiction of autobiography (refraction of personal memories for poetic effect), the elation of melancholy (sensually pleasing depictions of excruciating events), the radical traditional (classical themes embedded in avant-garde constructions), and the suspension of forward motion."--Film Comment"Koresky. . . . regards Terence Davies’s work as 'one of the richest, most idiosyncratic, and arrestingly experimental bodies of work put out by a narrative filmmaker,' and his monograph in the University of Illinois Contemporary Film Directors series is both informative and insightful."--Sight and Sound

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Book SynopsisEmir Kusturica is one of Eastern Europe's most celebrated and influential filmmakers. Over the course of a thirty-year career, Kusturica has navigated a series of geopolitical fault lines to produce subversive, playful, often satiric works.Trade Review"Bertellini is admirably succinct and evocative in discussing Kusturica's aesthetic management and no less insightful in discussing critical perspectives on the sociocultural, political thematic underpinnings of his major films." --Daniel Goulding, author ofLiberated Cinema: The Yugoslav Experience, 1945–2001"Enter Giorgio Bertellini with this remarkable study of Kusturica, his films, and their cinematic, cultural, and political implications and dimensions. . . . This is one of those rare film studies books that actively engages those who have seen and appreciated Kusturica's work as well as those just coming to these unusual films for the first time."--Slavic Review

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Book SynopsisSince his explosive debut with the indie sensation Hard Eight , Paul Thomas Anderson has established himself as one of contemporary cinema''s most exciting artists. His 2002 feature Punch-Drunk Love radically reimagined the romantic comedy. Critics hailed There Will Be Blood as a key film of the new millennium. In The Master , Anderson jarred audiences with dreamy amorphousness and a departure from conventional story mechanics. Acclaimed film scholar and screenwriter George Toles approaches these three films in particular, and Anderson''s oeuvre in general, with a focus on the role of emergence and the production of the unaccountable. Anderson, Toles shows, is an artist obsessed with history, workplaces, and environments but also intrigued by spaces as projections of the people who dwell within. Toles follows Anderson from the open narratives of Boogie Nights and Magnolia through the pivot that led to his more recent films, Janus-faced masterpieces that orbit around isolated centrTrade ReviewGeorge Toles is film studies' most astute close reader and its finest prose stylist. This book captures the ineffable strangeness of P. T. Anderson's films--their unusual forms, unsettled soundscapes, and characters wanting unmet connections. Toles explores the subjective interiors and cultural terrain these blinkered selves--and we viewers--cannot fully see. It's been said that actors are our substitutes, avatars who test unplumbed psychic depths. So it is with Toles, our guide to these miraculous films.--Carol Vernallis, author of Unruly Media: Youtube, Music Video, and the New Digital CinemaScriptwriter for films by Guy Maddin, George Toles is also one of the most insightful and articulate critics writing today. Tackling the enigmatic Paul Thomas Anderson, Toles probes these dramas of isolation, revealing both desperate violence and the possibility of communion.--Tom Gunning, author of The Films of Fritz Lang: Allegories of Vision and ModernityHere, caught within its covers, is the inimitable George Toles's richly challenging and brilliantly lambent voyage into the world of P. T. Anderson. Always turning and returning, always leaping and quivering with thought, the book opens Anderson to a new sense of value and depth that reveals his poetry, his multiplicities, and his touch upon our lives.--Murray Pomerance, author of Moment of Action: Riddles of Cinematic Performance

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Possesses the potential to alter the entire field. An unimpeachable reference book to be dipped into at need and taken in toto as a substantial, sustained, and original interpretation of its subject. Miklitsch is profoundly (and charmingly) collegial, but his scrupulous tone should not obscure the challenge to received wisdom his book poses."--Ann Douglas, author of Terrible Honesty: Mongrel Manhattan in the 1920s"Miklitsch's extended mediation on 1950s noir will entertain and intrigue both film scholars and movie fans." --Journal of American Culture"An interesting piece of work that highlights a commonly neglected period of American film noir."--Pop Culture Shelf “In this recommended read, [Miklitsch] finds something fresh to say about a familiar film topic.”--Library Journal"Highly Recommended."--Choice"Robert Miklitsch shows once again why he is one of the most interesting and knowledgeable critics of film noir. These readings of key '50s releases sparkle with insight, wit, and the enthusiasm of the committed cinephile."--R. Barton Palmer, author of Hollywood's Dark Cinema: The American Film Noir?

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Cristi Puiu is, undoubtedly, the most important filmmaker in contemporary Romanian cinema. His masterpieces have made their mark not only in the national film industry, but also in the European film culture. Monica Filimon's book, the first comprehensive analysis of all of Puiu's works until now, provides a thorough overview of the inner mechanisms of a complex and influential cinema-maker."--Doru Pop, author of Romanian New Wave Cinema: An Introduction"An original and highly competent investigation."--Dina Iordanova, University of St. Andrews"Monica Filimon's concise and helpful study of the director's oeuvre, background, and aesthetics is such a welcome publication. . . . Apart from her highly readable and well-argued accounts of Puiu's films . . . Filimon offers a convincing account of the director's evolution."--Cineaste"Monica Filimon offers an enlightening and engaging portrait of the larger-than-life personality that forms a core part of the New Romanian Cinema." --Studies in European Cinema

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A readable and insightful analysis of a vital contemporary filmmaker . . . Highly recommended."--Choice "A decisive account of Anderson's movies, alive to their obvious charms, undaunted by their limits, and dedicated to activating their hidden potentials. This slim volume is both a sure introduction to Anderson's cinema and an authoritative reframing of the critical consensus. Anderson is the cinematic collector par excellence, and in this beautifully written study, Kornhaber plunges into the causes and consequences of that obsession in new and trenchant ways."--J. D. Connor, author of The Studios after the Studios: Neoclassical Hollywood, 1970–2010

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Book SynopsisIf size counts for anything, Michael Bay towers over his contemporaries. His summer-defining event films involve extraordinary production costs and churn enormous box office returns. His ability to mastermind breathtaking spectacles of action, mayhem, and special effects continually push the movie industry as much as the medium of film toward new frontiers. Lutz Koepnick engages the bigness of works like Armageddon and the Transformers movies to explore essential questions of contemporary filmmaking and culture. Combining close analysis and theoretical reflection, Koepnick shows how Bay''s films, knowingly or not, address profound issues about what it means to live in the late twentieth- and early twenty-first centuries. According to Koepnick''s astute readings, no one eager to understand the state of cinema today can ignore Bay''s work. Bay''s cinema of world-making and transnational reach not only exemplifies interlocking processes of cultural and economic globalization. It urgeTrade Review"Compelling. The brilliance of this new book lies in the way that it grasps Bay's cinema not as the diametrical opposite, but rather as the dialectical counterpart, of 'slow cinema.' Exemplary in the way that it takes full measure of its subject without naive enthusiasm, but also without critical condescension."--Steven Shaviro, author of Post Cinematic Affect"This book is for everyone who loved the film classes they took in college, then watched Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and thought 'I give up.' Lutz Koepnick’s study of Michael Bay is a clear-eyed assessment of the oeuvre of Hollywood's hyperkinetic trash-virtuoso, but it is also a joyful demonstration of what film criticism and film theory can accomplish when they don't capitulate before the new cinema of confetti-cuts and incessant franchise service. The thinking person's guide to Bayhem."--Adrian Daub, coauthor of The James Bond Songs: Pop Anthems of Late Capitalism

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A uniquely accessible book for experts, in the fields of documentary history or feminist film theory, and newcomers alike." --Film Quarterly"Shilyh Warren’s Subject to Reality quite simply transforms the terrain of both documentary film studies and feminist film history. Not merely a labor of excavation, Warren’s transhistorical study turns to neglected works by women filmmakers in order to reshape how we can understand the history of US documentary film production and how we can understand the form itself. Deeply attentive, intelligent, and generous to the subjects of her study, Warren’s book is a model of inclusive scholarship. Put simply, Subject to Reality is an ethical work, one which we need now more than ever."--Amelie Hastie, author of Cupboards of Curiosity: Women, Recollection, and Film History"Warren approaches this body of work in new and illuminating ways. She consolidates and animates earlier debates within the field while complementing and expanding this with careful connections to relevant fields like ethnography and anthropology. She unearths and examines work by early women filmmakers that need to be part of this canon and reveals a gendered impulse at the heart of the ethnographic filmmaking enterprise. A delight."--Alexandra Juhasz, coeditor of Sisters in the Life: A History of Out African American Lesbian Media-Making"In re-examining the history of women in documentary, Warren has clearly shown how women's early anthropologically inflected films resonate powerfully with the present." --Documentary Magazine

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Book SynopsisFilms like Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness established Todd Solondz as independent cinema''s premier satirist. Blending a trademark black humor into atmospheres of grueling bleakness, Solondz repeatedly takes moviegoers into a bland suburban junk space peopled by the damaged, the neglected, and the depraved.Julian Murphet appraises the career of the controversial, if increasingly ignored, indie film auteur. Through close readings and a discussion with the director, Murphet dissects how Solondz''s themes and techniques serve stories laden with hot-button topics like pedophilia, rape, and family and systemic cruelty. Solondz''s uncompromising return to the same motifs, stylistic choices, and characters reject any idea of aesthetic progression. Instead, he embraces an art of diminishing returns that satirizes the laws of valuation sustaining what we call cinema. It also reflects both Solondz''s declining box office fortunes and the changing economics of independent film in an Trade Review"Todd Solondz, the dark horse of independent American cinema, has somehow escaped critical appraisal—until now. With this theoretically innovative and eminently readable volume, Julian Murphet has reframed Solondz's inimitable brand of cinema as a social document that comes closer to capturing the experience of late capitalism in the United States than the work of any other living filmmaker. Murphet's achievement is to show unequivocally that this world, a deracinated junk space filled with pedophiles and perverts, is our own. This book will be an indispensable guide to all of us that wonder about the hideously kitsch and just plain hideous aesthetic that has evolved over the duration of Solondz's career, and perhaps why it all feels so nauseatingly familiar."--Mark Steven, author of Splatter Capital: A Guide for Surviving the Horror Movie We Collectively Inhabit"Julian Murphet’s penetrating intelligence meets its match in Todd Solondz’ depthless abjection; surprisingly and superbly, it is a match made in heaven. Or perhaps in hell, the hell of the present that we must trust our most intrepid thinkers to explore, to challenge, and to discover within it not salvation but a livable world glowing with the possibility that we can survive it and enter the next world alive."--Joshua Clover, author of Riot. Strike. Riot: The New Era of Uprisings "Julian Murphet's Todd Solondz (published by the University of Illinois Press) makes me willing to at least give the director another look. Murphet defines the filmmaker as a satirist; Solondz isn't just trying to be disgusting but composes his bleak humor as a critique of a disgusting society." --Shepherd Express

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"This thoughtful study offers a worthwhile critical perspective on Werner Herzog, one of the world's great living film artists." --The Arts Fuse”From the fascinating films of Werner Herzog, Joshua Lund crafts a striking book that sheds light on the political significance of a range of aesthetic issues. Behind Herzog's films stands the ghost of America, confronting us with the tragic powerlessness of her heroes and meditating on the historical failure of her cultural-economic model. We have never seen Herzog's films with greater clarity.”—Luc Vancheri, author of Psycho: La leçon d'iconologie d'Alfred Hitchcock"This is a book that was written to be read. With a view to shedding light on Herzog’s notoriously hard-to-pin-down politics, Lund focuses on the idea of “America” as it figures in Herzog’s oeuvre, treating it as a broad and privileged category for reflecting on capitalist modernity. Each of the main chapters of Werner Herzog centers on a single film, tracing the arc of its plot, elegantly interweaving observations about other Herzog films, unusual historical and literary material, and commentary on the growing critical literature. It does all this without devolving into an easily forgotten scholasticism. Lund’s concerns go to the heart of what is so powerful and disorienting about Herzog’s work. By the end of each chapter, one has been expertly led along an unpredictable path to a fresh apprehension of the films. The book has everything what one wants from film criticism: excellent writing; suspense and surprise; erudition; and most of all, a strong and irreverent critical voice, worthy of Herzog’s own renegade sensibility."—Salomé Aguilera Skvirsky, author of The Process Genre: Cinema and the Aesthetic of Labor

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"This is a readable, engaging book. . . . Recommended." --Choice"Miklitsch's book is gripping. . . . So the many facets of the individual versus the system or the one system against another one (in that case a mob/gangster syndicate) get a lot of attention." --PopCultureShelf"Alert to the aesthetic, political, industrial, and historical provocations and subversions of 'gangster noir,' I Died a Million Times provides an excellent overview and analysis of this subgenre and reminds us of film noir’s rich hybridity. Full of truly superb readings of well-known and less familiar classic noir films, Robert Miklitsch’s book, written with striking verve, will engage, delight, and inform scholars and movie fans."--Julie Grossman, coauthor of Ida Lupino, Director: Her Art and Resilience in Times of Transition"I Died a Million Times is an enjoyable and informative read for film noir aficionados and casual movie fans alike, offering a cogent analysis of ’50s gangster noir as a cinema of social commentary." --Arts Fuse"Scholars of cinematic history and aficionados of gangster folklore will be riveted." --Library JournalTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Direct Address: To the Reader Preface: Gangster/Noir Introduction: From the Syndicate to the Classic Heist Picture Organized Crime as “Big Combo”: The Octopus The Syndicate Picture: Bright City Confidential The Syndicate/Rogue Cop Film: The Racket The Rogue Cop Film: Dragnet v. “Bloody Christmas” “Gangster with a Badge”: On Dangerous Ground The Heist Picture: Neo-Gangster Noir The Proto-Heist Film: High Sierra and Beyond Part One 1 The Syndicate Film 711 Ocean Drive: California Dreaming The Captive City: Underworld, USA The Big Combo: Between Men 2 The Brothers Rico: Sunshine Noir and the ’50s Syndicate Picture 3 The Phenix City Story: History and Fiction (Film), Civil Rights, and the Last Days of Pompeii Part Two 4 Where the Sidewalk Ends: Theft, Adaptation, Prototypicality0 5 The Rogue Cop Film The Prowler: Car Culture/Cadillac The Big Heat: Something/Nothing Shield for Murder: Dirt/Castle Heights 6 Touch of Evil: Good Cop/Bad Cop Part Three 7 The Asphalt Jungle: The City under the City 8 The Heist Film Armored Car Robbery: Striptease The Killing: Jigsaw Puzzle Plunder Road: Near Mint 9 Odds against Tomorrow: Race, Space, and Sputnik Noir Conclusion: Post-’50s Syndicate, Rogue Cop, and “Big Caper” Films Neo-Gangster Noir Syndicate Picture: Underworld U.S.A. The Post-’50s Rogue Cop Film: Cape Fear Post-Classic Heist Movie: Ocean’s 11 Notes Index

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Book SynopsisFilms like Shoplifters and After the Storm have made Kore-eda Hirokazu one of the most acclaimed auteurs working today. Critics often see Kore-eda as a director steeped in the Japanese tradition defined by Yasujiro Ozu. Marc Yamada, however, views Kore-eda’s work in relation to the same socioeconomic concerns explored by other contemporary international filmmakers. Yamada reveals that a type of excess, not the minimalism associated with traditional aesthetics, defines Kore-eda’s trademark humanism. This excess manifests in small moments when a desire for human connection exceeds the logic of the institutions and policies formed by the neoliberal values that have shaped modern-day Japan. As Yamada shows, Kore-eda captures the shared spaces formed by bodies that move, perform, and assemble in ways that express the humanistic impulse at the core of the filmmaker’s expanding worldwide appeal.Trade Review“Marc Yamada reveals how Kore-eda’s films connect to global audiences through their focus on figures like children suffering from neglect and families surviving at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. Yamada provides new approaches towards understanding Kore-eda’s work in terms of a broader critique of neoliberalism.”--Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano, author of Nippon Modern: Japanese Cinema of the 1920s and 1930s"A close read of the works of one of the world’s most deeply human writer-directors. The section studying 2018’s Shoplifters is especially strong. But his entire corpus is shown to be well worth analyzing. " --Film StageTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Shared Spaces of Filmmaking Beyond Ozu and Loach: Kore-eda Hirokazu in Japanese and World Cinema Nonorganized Labor and Shared Spaces of Collaboration in Kore-eda’s Early Documentaries Grifter Families and Networks of Exchange in Shoplifters Reimagining Masculine Bodies in Hana; Like Father, Like Son; and The Third Murder Body Moving: The Dynamics of Placemaking in Our Little Sister, Still Walking, and After the Storm Private and Public Bodies of Memory in After Life, The Truth, and Distance Interviews with Kore-eda Hirokazu Filmography Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“This insightful book restores filmmaker Su Friedrich’s key role in American experimental cinema, along with the New York feminist and lesbian cultural and activist contexts that shaped it. Friedrich’s associative style, personal content, and precision editing remind us that formalism has politics and politics has form. This comprehensive account challenges existing histories of American experimental film.”--Patricia White, author of Women’s Cinema, World Cinema: Projecting Contemporary FeminismsTable of ContentsAcknowledgments A Politics of the Personal in Experimental Filmmaking Auteurism Expanded Scratching and Cutting Counter Memories The Politics of Being Lesbian Digital Embodiments An Interview with Su Friedrich Filmography Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewWinner of the Theatre Library Association Award, 1991."The definitive work on Griffith's early career. . . . Will solidify the way in which film scholars, critics, and teachers conceive of not only Griffith's crucial contributions to film history but all early filmmaking in the U.S."--David Desser, coauthor of American Jewish Filmmakers: Traditions and Trends"An all-encompassing vision of D.W. Griffith's early work. Gunning's study is full of new information and places the Biographs in a lucid historical-critical context that will serve any future scholar who ventures into the realm of early cinema."--Joyce E. Jesionowski, author of Thinking in Pictures: Narrative Structure in D. W. Griffith's Biograph Films"A must purchase for motion picture buffs and historians."--Morse Press-News

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Book SynopsisDemonstrating how the Jewish experience gives rise to an intimately linked series of issues in Jewish filmmakers films, this trilogy presents the effects of the Holocaust linger. It focuses on the failure of society's institutions to deliver social justice, and analyses works of Steven Spielberg, Barry Levinson, Brian Singer, and Darren Aronofsky.Trade Review"[A] fascinating and challenging study, one that sheds light not only on the changing character of the American Jew, but on the changing nature of American society and the films that reflect it."--Australian Jewish News"There is much here for the serious film buff to relish."--Jerusalem Post Magazine

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Book SynopsisThe maverick filmmaker''s personal and political relationships with film Best known in the United States for his visionary short film La Jetée, Chris Marker spearheaded the bourgeoning Nouvelle Vague scene in the late 1950s. His distinctive style and use of still images place him among the postwar era''s most influential European filmmakers. His fearless political cinema, meanwhile, provided a bold model for other activist filmmakers. Nora M. Alter investigates the core themes and motivations behind an unpredictable and transnational career that defies easy classification. A photographer, multimedia artist, writer, broadcaster, producer, and organizer, Marker cultivated an artistic dynamism and always-changing identity. ''I am an essayist,'' Marker once said, and his 1953 debut filmic essay The Statues Also Die (with Alain Resnais) exposed the European art market''s complicity in atrocities in the former Belgian Congo. Ranging geographicallTrade Review"Nora Alter's short study of Marker's work does much to restore a sense of the complexity of his motivations and working methods . . . She is especially informative on the aesthetic and political involutions of post-war France. . . . For its filmography and the breadth of its coverage, her book is essential."--Brian Dillon, Sight and Sound "A valuable addition to Marker scholarship."--Film International

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"[A] comprehensive and informative critical evaluation of the Portuguese filmmaker's body of work."--Strictly Film School "An aristocratic provocateur who most often comes up with aggressively eccentric but beautifully logical ways of adapting plays and novels, this 19th-century modernist needs an erudite explicator and finds one in Johnson."--Film CommentTable of ContentsCoverTitleCopyrightContentsPreface and AcknowledgmentsThe Early Years: 1931–65The Tetralogy of Frustrated LoveTo the LimitBonfire of VanitiesVoyages“A Mental Conception of Cinema”: An Interview by Jean A. GiliAn Interview with Manoel de Oliveira By Ruy GardnierFilmographyBibliographyIndexBack cover

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Book SynopsisA new take on an eclectic and controversial directorTrade Review"The dizzying ups and downs of Polanski's career, Morrison observes, are representative of the vagaries of international cinema during the past half century."--Booklist"A valuable addition to the already substantial field of Polanski studies. It is insightful and richly informative not only about Polanski's trailblazing, difficult-to-classify films, but also the cultural context of the past few decades."-Times Literary Supplement "A very personal, insightful book, which sheds welcome new light on the career of a major talent, while at the same time highlighting the complexities of transnational film culture."--Scope"In this outstanding book, James Morrison makes a strong case for Polanski as an intriguing example of film authorship. Drawing on the work of Deleuze and Foucault, Morrison examines the breaks in his career and several cinematic modes he has explored while discovering a surprising unity in the filmmaker's preoccupations and aesthetic."--Cynthia Erb, author of Tracking King Kong: A Hollywood Icon in World Culture

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Book Synopsis This survey of Sally Potter’s work explores her cinematic development from the feminist reworking ofLa BohèmeinThrillerto the provocative contemplation of romantic relationships after 9/11 inYes.Catherine Fowler traces a clear trajectory of developing themes and preoccupations and shows how Potter uses song, dance, performance, and poetry to expand our experience of cinema beyond the audiovisual. Potter has relentlessly struggled against predictability and safe options. Again and again, her works grapple with the complexities of being a woman in charge. Instead of the quest to find a romantic partner that drives mainstream cinema, Potter’s films feature characters seeking answers to questions about their sexual, gendered, social, cultural, and ethnic identities. They find answers by retelling stories, investigating mysteries, and traveling and interacting with people. At the heart of Potter’s work is a concern with the ways naTrade Review“A first-rate study of an important contemporary director. Catherine Fowler’s writing is lucid and readable, and she traces with confidence the myriad cultural influences that shaped Potter’s aesthetic.”--Virginia Wright Wexman, coeditor of Women and Experimental Filmmaking

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Book Synopsis For well over a decade, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have produced highly original and ethically charged films that immerse their audiences in an intense and embodied viewing experience. Their work has consistently attracted international recognition, including the rare feat of two Palmes d''Or at Cannes. In this first book-length study of the Belgian brothers, Joseph Mai delivers sophisticated close analyses of their directorial style and explores the many philosophical issues dealt with in their films (especially the ethics of Emmanuel Levinas). Mai discusses the Dardennes'' varied and searching career from its inception in the late 1970s, starting with the working-class political consciousness and lost utopias of their documentary period; passing through their transition toward fictional narrative, experimental techniques, and familial themes; and finishing with a series of in-depth and philosophically informed interpretations of the brothers'' more recent work. In sucTrade Review"Meticulously researched and fluently written, it makes a very substantial and important contribution to the literature on two enormously important film-makers."--H-France Review"In this masterful, efficient study, Mai reviews their canon with sensitivity, insight, and respectful objectivity. Recommended."--Choice"An innovative, intelligent introduction to the work of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Mai delivers a lucid, critically engaged account of the filmmakers' influences and their own unique style.”--Sarah Cooper, Reader in Film Theory and Aesthetics, King's College London"Intelligently argued. . . . A keenly observed account of the Dardennes' work, and whets the appetite for new, or renewed, viewings of the film."--Modern & Contemporary France

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Book SynopsisIn this book, Peter Brunette analyzes the theatrical releases of Austrian film director Michael Haneke, including The White Ribbon, winner of the 2009 Palme d''Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Perhaps best known to U.S. audiences for Caché, The Piano Teacher, and his remake of his own disturbing Funny Games, Haneke has consistently challenged critics and film viewers to consider their own responsibility for what they watch when they seek to be ''merely'' entertained by such studio-produced Hollywood thrillers. Brunette highlights Haneke''s brilliant use of uncompromising visual and aural techniques to express complex themes. His most recent films contain what has become his hallmark: a moment of violence or shock that is not intended to be exploitative, but that nevertheless goes beyond the conventional boundaries of most art cinema. Lauded for graphically revealing the powerful influence of contemporary media on social behavior, his films offer a chillingTrade Review"Brunette wields critical theory with an extremely light touch, which results in a smooth reading experience."--Jump Cut "Brunette offers detailed, expert analyses of Haneke’s 10 theatrical films, from the early works made in his native Austria through The White Ribbon, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes."--Booklist"Recommended."--Choice"Brunette writes with a clear command of the material and a great admiration for Haneke's scriptwriting and cinematic skills."--Cineaste"A compelling choice for anyone seeking a comprehensive, eloquent, and accessible introduction to the films of Michael Haneke."--Roy Grundmann, editor of A Companion to Michael Haneke and curator of the retrospective "Michael Haneke: A Cinema of Provocation"

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Book Synopsis This in-depth study of Mexican film director Alejandro González Iñárritu explores his role in moving Mexican filmmaking from a traditional nationalist agenda towards a more global focus. Working in the United States and in Mexico, Iñárritu crosses national borders while his movies break the barriers of distribution, production, narration, and style. His features also experiment with transnational identity as characters emigrate and settings change. In studying the international scope of Iñárritu''s influential films Amores Perros, 21 Grams, and Babel, Celestino Deleyto and María del Mar Azcona trace common themes such as human suffering and redemption, chance, and accidental encounters. The authors also analyze the director''s powerful visual style and his consistent use of multiple characters and a fragmented narrative structure. The book concludes with a new interview with Iñ&aTrade Review"An excellent analysis of the director’s style."--PopMatters"An important contribution on the work of one of the most interesting contemporary filmmakers. Through meticulous analysis and attention to detail, style and structure, the authors offer an in-depth analysis of the work of Alejandro González Iñárritu."--Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies"A model of impeccable scholarship and writing. Alejandro González Iñárritu is unquestionably one of the most interesting and important contemporary filmmakers in Latin America, and this study demonstrates a solid and secure understanding of Iñárritu's role in moving Mexican filmmaking toward a more globalized focus."--David William Foster, author of Mexico City and Contemporary Mexican Filmmaking

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Book Synopsis As a pioneer of the French New Wave, Jacques Rivette was one of a group of directors who permanently altered the world''s perception of cinema by taking the camera out of the studios and into the streets. His films, including Paris nous appartient, Out 1: Noli me tangere, Céline et Julie vont en bateau--Phantom Ladies Over Paris, La belle noiseuse, Secret défense, and Va savoir are extraordinary combinations of intellectual depth, playfulness, and sensuous beauty. In this study of Rivette, Mary M. Wiles provides a thorough account of the director''s career from the burgeoning French New Wave to the present day, focusing on the theatricality of Rivette''s films and his explorations of the relationship between cinema and fine arts such as painting, literature, music, and dance. Wiles also explores the intellectual interests that shaped Rivette''s approach to film, including Sartre''s existentialism, Barthes''s structuralism, and Trade Review “A riveting study of an often-overlooked director.”--Library Journal "A very useful and thoughtful book. In this critical study of Jacques Rivette, Mary M. Wiles situates Rivette within many strands of French culture and makes his films more legible. Wiles's discussion is well-informed, provocative, suggestive, and reliable, and her fanaticism about Rivette is contagious."--Jonathan Rosenbaum, author of Goodbye Cinema, Hello Cinephilia: Film Culture in Transition "A perceptive volume, on a filmmaker whom studies are thin on the ground."--Film International "Wiles puts forth an original work which never relies on a compilation of other's analyses and review. . . . Wiles reinforces Rivette's credibility as experimental filmmaker while reaching out to audiences of adaptation and film studies."--French Review

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Book SynopsisAn incisive analysis of a popular American filmmakerTrade Review"Refreshingly open-minded."--Senses of Cinema "In addition to Johnson's critical insights, a lengthy interview with the director is included. . . . This book is ideal for scholars of American independent cinema."--Library Journal"The most exhaustive, densest study of Linklater's work yet published. . . . A terrific resource on an oddly underdiscussed director."--Austin American-Statesman"Readers will find that reading this highly engaging and accessible book engenders a desire to delve further into the world of an important director."--Screening The Past"With remarkable clarity, this intelligent and rigorous study securely establishes Richard Linklater as a definitive auteur, locating commonalities across his seemingly diverse oeuvre."--Michael Koresky, staff writer and editor, the Criterion Collection, and cofounder and editor of Reverse Shot

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Book Synopsis Commanding a cult following among horror fans, Italian film director Dario Argento is best known for his work in two closely related genres, the crime thriller and supernatural horror, as well as his influence on modern horror and slasher movies. In his four decades of filmmaking, Argento has displayed a commitment to innovation, from his directorial debut with 1970''s suspense thriller The Bird with the Crystal Plumage to 2009''s Giallo. His films, like the lurid yellow-covered murder-mystery novels they are inspired by, follow the suspense tradition of hard-boiled American detective fiction while incorporating baroque scenes of violence and excess. While considerations of Argento''s films often describe them as irrational nightmares, L. Andrew Cooper uses controversies and theories about the films'' reflections on sadism, gender, sexuality, psychoanalysis, aestheticism, and genre to declare the anti-rational logic of Argento''s oeuvre. Approaching the films Trade Review "Contained in these pages are innumerable facts that illuminate the production, content, and backstory of these films and their maker. A thoroughly well researched book."--Film Matters"Cooper's text is deep and probing, throwing light onto the darkness and the bloodletting of Argento's world."--PopMatters.com "A novel and interesting approach to Argento's oeuvre. Cooper's interrogation of authorial style and theoretical readings of the films are thorough, insightful, and astute." --Brigid Cherry, coeditor of Twenty-first-century Gothic

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Book Synopsis In eleven feature films across two decades, Christian Petzold has established himself as the most critically celebrated director in contemporary Germany. The best-known and most influential member of the Berlin School, Petzold''s career reflects the trajectory of German film from 1970s New German Cinema to more popular fare in the 1990s and back again to critically engaged and politically committed filmmaking. In the first book-length study on Petzold in English, Jaimey Fisher frames Petzold''s cinema at the intersection of international art cinema and sophisticated genre cinema. This approach places his work in the context of global cinema and invites comparisons to the work of directors like Pedro Almodovar and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who repeatedly deploy and reconfigure genre cinema to their own ends. These generic aspects constitute a cosmopolitan gesture in Petzold''s work as he interprets and elaborates on cult genre films and popular genres, including Trade Review"An incisive and eye-opening overview of the work so far of Christian Petzold, arguably the most important and recognized film director working in German cinema today. Analytically rigorous yet accessible, Fisher's work will certainly be welcomed by many readers interested in contemporary German filmmaking and the development of international art cinemas in general. A great book."--Lutz Koepnick, author of The Dark Mirror: German Cinema between Hitler and Hollywood "Fisher's approachable book should be enough to inspire retrospectives in cine-clubs and archives alike."--Slant"Perceptive. . . . Jaimey Fisher sees the filmmaker as an exemplary cultural figure in post-reunification Germany for his wariness over the country's history as well as its newfound eagerness to embrace Reagan-Thatcher economics."--Shepherd Express"It is… impossible to overstate the significance of Christian Petzold, Jaimey Fisher's superb analysis of what many consider post-unification of German cinema's most important director… Fisher's well- researched and lucidly written analysis allows Petzold's oeuvre to become part of a 'neighborhood' of contemporary world cinema greats such as David Lynch, Todd Haynes, Kim Ki-Duk, Jim Jarmusch, Michael Haneke, Lars von Trier, and Steven Soderbergh."--Seminar; A Journal of Germanic Studies"Fisher's book offers an excellent sense of the kinds of characters, themes, and styles one finds in Petzold's work. He establishes Petzold as an auteur with global reach."--German Studies Review

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewNominee for Edgar® Award, Best Critical/Biographical category, 2015. A Choice Outstanding Academic Title, 2015. "A thrilling example of the possibilities of renewed scholarly attention to the classic noir period. Its broad range of novel topics and uniformly astute analyses reframe and open up the field of film noir study in provocative and insightful ways that herald a new phase in scholarship not only of the genre but of Classic Hollywood itself."--David Greven, author of Psycho-Sexual: Male Desire in Hitchcock, De Palma, Scorsese, and Friedkin"An invaluable resource for anyone interested in film noir. Essential."-Choice“The essays in Kiss the Blood off My Hands seek fresh angles on a genre that has attracted so much scholarship that the academic field has its own worn tropes: German Expressionism, post-war ambience, gender politics. Several essays in Robert Miklitch’s edited collection advance the study of film noir by attending to previously neglected aspects of style.”--Times Literary Supplement

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Book SynopsisCalled the most important British filmmaker of his generation, Terence Davies made his reputation with modern classics like Distant Voices, Still Lives and The Long Day Closes, personal works exploring his fractured childhood in Liverpool. His idiosyncratic and unorthodox narrative films defy easy categorization, as their seeming existence within realism and personal memory cinema is undermined by an abstractness that makes the way he lays bare personal pain come across as distant, even alien. Film critic Michael Koresky explores the unique emotional tenor of Davies''s work by focusing on four paradoxes within the director''s oeuvre: films that are autobiographical yet fictional; melancholy yet elating; conservative in tone and theme yet radically constructed; and obsessed with the passing of time yet frozen in time and space. Through these contradictions, the films'' intricate designs reveal a cumulative, deeply personal meditation on the self. Koresky also analyzes hTrade Review"A significant contribution to the field. Koresky is able to both chart the development of Davies' cinema, while convincingly conveying the coherence and continuity of both theme and style at the heart of this very singular auteur." --Duncan Petrie, author of Creativity and Constraint in the British Film Industry"Britain's finest living director finally gets the analytic overview and close reading that he deserves. . . . Koresky is especially perceptive. Recommended."--Choice"Michael Koresky's study of Davies is above all attuned to the contradictions that define his life and inform his work, namely 'beauty and ugliness, the real and the artificial, progression and tradition, motion and stasis.' Koresky unpacks the paradoxes intrinsic to Davies's project with clarity and rigor, dividing his aesthetic among the fiction of autobiography (refraction of personal memories for poetic effect), the elation of melancholy (sensually pleasing depictions of excruciating events), the radical traditional (classical themes embedded in avant-garde constructions), and the suspension of forward motion."--Film Comment"Koresky. . . . regards Terence Davies’s work as 'one of the richest, most idiosyncratic, and arrestingly experimental bodies of work put out by a narrative filmmaker,' and his monograph in the University of Illinois Contemporary Film Directors series is both informative and insightful."--Sight and Sound

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Book SynopsisAcclaimed as one of the most influential and innovative American directors, Francis Ford Coppola is also lionized as a maverick auteur at war with Hollywood''s power structure and an ardent critic of the postindustrial corporate America it reflects. However, Jeff Menne argues that Coppola exemplifies the new breed of creative corporate person and sees the director''s oeuvre as vital for reimagining the corporation in the transformation of Hollywood. Reading auteur theory as the new American business theory, Menne reveals how Coppola''s vision of a new kind of company has transformed the worker into a liberated and well-utilized artist, but has also commodified individual creativity at a level unprecedented in corporate history. Coppola negotiated the contradictory roles of shrewd businessman and creative artist by recognizing the two roles are fused in a postindustrial economy. Analyzing films like The Godfather (1970) and the overlooked TuckerTrade Review"Well researched, well written, compellingly argued. Writing intelligently and coherently about an auteur as significant and complex as Francis Coppola in a short book is more of a challenge than doing so in a more expansive format. Menne proves up to the task." --Jon Lewis, author of Whom God Wishes to Destroy: Francis Coppola and the New Hollywood"Jeff Menne has found a new angle on one of the most remarkable filmmakers of his era."--Shepherd Express

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Book SynopsisEmir Kusturica is one of Eastern Europe''s most celebrated and influential filmmakers. Over the course of a thirty-year career, Kusturica has navigated a series of geopolitical fault lines to produce subversive, playful, often satiric works. On the way he won acclaim and widespread popularity while showing a genius for adjusting his poetic pitch--shifting from romantic realist to controversial satirist to sentimental jester. Leading scholar-critic Giorgio Bertellini divides Kusturica''s career into three stages--dissention, disconnection, and dissonance--to reflect both the historic and cultural changes going on around him and the changes his cinema has undergone. He uses Kusturica''s Palme d''Or winning Underground (1995)--the famously inflammatory take on Yugoslav history after World War II--as the pivot between the tone of romantic, yet pungent critique of the director''s early works and later journeys into Balkanist farce marked by slapstick and a self-consciouTrade Review"Bertellini is admirably succinct and evocative in discussing Kusturica's aesthetic management and no less insightful in discussing critical perspectives on the sociocultural, political thematic underpinnings of his major films." --Daniel Goulding, author ofLiberated Cinema: The Yugoslav Experience, 1945–2001"Enter Giorgio Bertellini with this remarkable study of Kusturica, his films, and their cinematic, cultural, and political implications and dimensions. . . . This is one of those rare film studies books that actively engages those who have seen and appreciated Kusturica's work as well as those just coming to these unusual films for the first time."--Slavic Review

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Possesses the potential to alter the entire field. An unimpeachable reference book to be dipped into at need and taken in toto as a substantial, sustained, and original interpretation of its subject. Miklitsch is profoundly (and charmingly) collegial, but his scrupulous tone should not obscure the challenge to received wisdom his book poses."--Ann Douglas, author of Terrible Honesty: Mongrel Manhattan in the 1920s"Miklitsch's extended mediation on 1950s noir will entertain and intrigue both film scholars and movie fans." --Journal of American Culture"An interesting piece of work that highlights a commonly neglected period of American film noir."--Pop Culture Shelf “In this recommended read, [Miklitsch] finds something fresh to say about a familiar film topic.”--Library Journal"Highly Recommended."--Choice"Robert Miklitsch shows once again why he is one of the most interesting and knowledgeable critics of film noir. These readings of key '50s releases sparkle with insight, wit, and the enthusiasm of the committed cinephile."--R. Barton Palmer, author of Hollywood's Dark Cinema: The American Film Noir?

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Book SynopsisCristi Puiu''s black comedy The Death of Mr. Lazarescu announced the arrival of the New Romanian Cinema as a force on the film world stage. As critics and festival audiences embraced the new movement, Puiu emerged as its lodestar and critical voice. Monica Filimon explores the works of an artist dedicated to truth not as an abstract concept, but as the ephemeral revelation of the fuller, ungraspable world beyond the screen. Puiu''s innovative use of the handheld camera as an observer and his reliance on austere, restricted narration highlight the very limits of human understanding, guiding the viewer''s intellectual and emotional sensibilities to the reality that has been left unfilmed. Filimon examines the director''s ethics of epiphany not only in relation to the collective and personal histories that have triggered it, but also in dialogue with the films, texts, and filmmakers that have shaped it.Trade Review"Cristi Puiu is, undoubtedly, the most important filmmaker in contemporary Romanian cinema. His masterpieces have made their mark not only in the national film industry, but also in the European film culture. Monica Filimon's book, the first comprehensive analysis of all of Puiu's works until now, provides a thorough overview of the inner mechanisms of a complex and influential cinema-maker."--Doru Pop, author of Romanian New Wave Cinema: An Introduction"An original and highly competent investigation."--Dina Iordanova, University of St. Andrews"Monica Filimon's concise and helpful study of the director's oeuvre, background, and aesthetics is such a welcome publication. . . . Apart from her highly readable and well-argued accounts of Puiu's films . . . Filimon offers a convincing account of the director's evolution."--Cineaste"Monica Filimon offers an enlightening and engaging portrait of the larger-than-life personality that forms a core part of the New Romanian Cinema." --Studies in European Cinema

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Book SynopsisIf size counts for anything, Michael Bay towers over his contemporaries. His summer-defining event films involve extraordinary production costs and churn enormous box office returns. His ability to mastermind breathtaking spectacles of action, mayhem, and special effects continually push the movie industry as much as the medium of film toward new frontiers. Lutz Koepnick engages the bigness of works like Armageddon and the Transformers movies to explore essential questions of contemporary filmmaking and culture. Combining close analysis and theoretical reflection, Koepnick shows how Bay''s films, knowingly or not, address profound issues about what it means to live in the late twentieth- and early twenty-first centuries. According to Koepnick''s astute readings, no one eager to understand the state of cinema today can ignore Bay''s work. Bay''s cinema of world-making and transnational reach not only exemplifies interlocking processes of cultural and economic globalization. It urgeTrade Review"Compelling. The brilliance of this new book lies in the way that it grasps Bay's cinema not as the diametrical opposite, but rather as the dialectical counterpart, of 'slow cinema.' Exemplary in the way that it takes full measure of its subject without naive enthusiasm, but also without critical condescension."--Steven Shaviro, author of Post Cinematic Affect"This book is for everyone who loved the film classes they took in college, then watched Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and thought 'I give up.' Lutz Koepnick’s study of Michael Bay is a clear-eyed assessment of the oeuvre of Hollywood's hyperkinetic trash-virtuoso, but it is also a joyful demonstration of what film criticism and film theory can accomplish when they don't capitulate before the new cinema of confetti-cuts and incessant franchise service. The thinking person's guide to Bayhem."--Adrian Daub, coauthor of The James Bond Songs: Pop Anthems of Late Capitalism

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Book SynopsisFilms like Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness established Todd Solondz as independent cinema''s premier satirist. Blending a trademark black humor into atmospheres of grueling bleakness, Solondz repeatedly takes moviegoers into a bland suburban junk space peopled by the damaged, the neglected, and the depraved.Julian Murphet appraises the career of the controversial, if increasingly ignored, indie film auteur. Through close readings and a discussion with the director, Murphet dissects how Solondz''s themes and techniques serve stories laden with hot-button topics like pedophilia, rape, and family and systemic cruelty. Solondz''s uncompromising return to the same motifs, stylistic choices, and characters reject any idea of aesthetic progression. Instead, he embraces an art of diminishing returns that satirizes the laws of valuation sustaining what we call cinema. It also reflects both Solondz''s declining box office fortunes and the changing economics of independent film in an Trade Review"Todd Solondz, the dark horse of independent American cinema, has somehow escaped critical appraisal—until now. With this theoretically innovative and eminently readable volume, Julian Murphet has reframed Solondz's inimitable brand of cinema as a social document that comes closer to capturing the experience of late capitalism in the United States than the work of any other living filmmaker. Murphet's achievement is to show unequivocally that this world, a deracinated junk space filled with pedophiles and perverts, is our own. This book will be an indispensable guide to all of us that wonder about the hideously kitsch and just plain hideous aesthetic that has evolved over the duration of Solondz's career, and perhaps why it all feels so nauseatingly familiar."--Mark Steven, author of Splatter Capital: A Guide for Surviving the Horror Movie We Collectively Inhabit"Julian Murphet’s penetrating intelligence meets its match in Todd Solondz’ depthless abjection; surprisingly and superbly, it is a match made in heaven. Or perhaps in hell, the hell of the present that we must trust our most intrepid thinkers to explore, to challenge, and to discover within it not salvation but a livable world glowing with the possibility that we can survive it and enter the next world alive."--Joshua Clover, author of Riot. Strike. Riot: The New Era of Uprisings "Julian Murphet's Todd Solondz (published by the University of Illinois Press) makes me willing to at least give the director another look. Murphet defines the filmmaker as a satirist; Solondz isn't just trying to be disgusting but composes his bleak humor as a critique of a disgusting society." --Shepherd Express

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"This is a readable, engaging book. . . . Recommended." --Choice"Miklitsch's book is gripping. . . . So the many facets of the individual versus the system or the one system against another one (in that case a mob/gangster syndicate) get a lot of attention." --PopCultureShelf"Alert to the aesthetic, political, industrial, and historical provocations and subversions of 'gangster noir,' I Died a Million Times provides an excellent overview and analysis of this subgenre and reminds us of film noir’s rich hybridity. Full of truly superb readings of well-known and less familiar classic noir films, Robert Miklitsch’s book, written with striking verve, will engage, delight, and inform scholars and movie fans."--Julie Grossman, coauthor of Ida Lupino, Director: Her Art and Resilience in Times of Transition"I Died a Million Times is an enjoyable and informative read for film noir aficionados and casual movie fans alike, offering a cogent analysis of ’50s gangster noir as a cinema of social commentary." --Arts Fuse"Scholars of cinematic history and aficionados of gangster folklore will be riveted." --Library JournalTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Direct Address: To the Reader Preface: Gangster/Noir Introduction: From the Syndicate to the Classic Heist Picture Organized Crime as “Big Combo”: The Octopus The Syndicate Picture: Bright City Confidential The Syndicate/Rogue Cop Film: The Racket The Rogue Cop Film: Dragnet v. “Bloody Christmas” “Gangster with a Badge”: On Dangerous Ground The Heist Picture: Neo-Gangster Noir The Proto-Heist Film: High Sierra and Beyond Part One 1 The Syndicate Film 711 Ocean Drive: California Dreaming The Captive City: Underworld, USA The Big Combo: Between Men 2 The Brothers Rico: Sunshine Noir and the ’50s Syndicate Picture 3 The Phenix City Story: History and Fiction (Film), Civil Rights, and the Last Days of Pompeii Part Two 4 Where the Sidewalk Ends: Theft, Adaptation, Prototypicality0 5 The Rogue Cop Film The Prowler: Car Culture/Cadillac The Big Heat: Something/Nothing Shield for Murder: Dirt/Castle Heights 6 Touch of Evil: Good Cop/Bad Cop Part Three 7 The Asphalt Jungle: The City under the City 8 The Heist Film Armored Car Robbery: Striptease The Killing: Jigsaw Puzzle Plunder Road: Near Mint 9 Odds against Tomorrow: Race, Space, and Sputnik Noir Conclusion: Post-’50s Syndicate, Rogue Cop, and “Big Caper” Films Neo-Gangster Noir Syndicate Picture: Underworld U.S.A. The Post-’50s Rogue Cop Film: Cape Fear Post-Classic Heist Movie: Ocean’s 11 Notes Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“This insightful book restores filmmaker Su Friedrich’s key role in American experimental cinema, along with the New York feminist and lesbian cultural and activist contexts that shaped it. Friedrich’s associative style, personal content, and precision editing remind us that formalism has politics and politics has form. This comprehensive account challenges existing histories of American experimental film.”--Patricia White, author of Women’s Cinema, World Cinema: Projecting Contemporary FeminismsTable of ContentsAcknowledgments A Politics of the Personal in Experimental Filmmaking Auteurism Expanded Scratching and Cutting Counter Memories The Politics of Being Lesbian Digital Embodiments An Interview with Su Friedrich Filmography Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewMovies, Songs, and Electric Sound is an insightful study in the beginning of cinema's sound era. * popcultureshelf.com *Table of ContentsIntroductionPart I: Movies and Songs in Transition Chapter 1: Songs in Cinema in 1930Chapter 2: Electric Sound as New Medium Chapter 3: Voices and Bodies, Direct and Dubbed Part II: Transnational Trends Chapter 4: Film Editing after Electric SoundChapter 5: Export Cinema and Modular AestheticsPart III: Hollywood and Film EuropeChapter 6: American Films and Songs, at Home and AbroadChapter 7: Musical Films Made in GermanyEpilogue: Songs in Cinema, from Electric to Digital

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewMovies, Songs, and Electric Sound is an insightful study in the beginning of cinema's sound era. * popcultureshelf.com *Table of ContentsIntroductionPart I: Movies and Songs in Transition Chapter 1: Songs in Cinema in 1930Chapter 2: Electric Sound as New Medium Chapter 3: Voices and Bodies, Direct and Dubbed Part II: Transnational Trends Chapter 4: Film Editing after Electric SoundChapter 5: Export Cinema and Modular AestheticsPart III: Hollywood and Film EuropeChapter 6: American Films and Songs, at Home and AbroadChapter 7: Musical Films Made in GermanyEpilogue: Songs in Cinema, from Electric to Digital

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Book SynopsisDiscusses the transition to sound in the French cinema.Table of ContentsIntroduction: National Cinema after Recorded Sound1. Sound's Impact on Film Style: The Case for Homogenization2. Film History after Recorded Sound: From Crisis to Continuity3. The Talkies in France: Imported Films as Exemplars4. Sound-Era Film Editing: International Norms, Local Commitments5. Shooting and Recording in Paris and Hollywood6. Hollywood Indigenized: Pathé-Natan and National Popular CinemaConclusion: Sound and National Film Style—Past and PresentNotesFilmography: French Films, 19301933Index

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Book SynopsisOffers a critical approach to African cinema - one that requires that we revisit the beginnings of African filmmaking and the critical responses to which they gave rise, and that we ask what limitations they might have contained, what price was paid for the approaches then taken, and whether we are still caught in those limitations today.Trade Review[This book] is at once a strange and exciting work worthy of attention ...Issue 47 * Film International *Every now and again a single book changes a discipline. Richard Harvey did this in geography; C. Wright Mills preceded him in sociology. And now Ken Harrow has done it for cinema studies. The short preface to Postcolonial African Cinema offers a subversive exhortation written in the style of manifestos issued by other Africanists on the nature, objectives, and identity of African cinema. Through a layered analysis, Harrow positions his study relative to his critics, to African essentialism, and to critical assumptions embedded in outworn conceptual frameworks, refining the counterargument initially developed in Less than One and Double (Heinemann, 2002).Volume 52.2, September 2009 -- Keyan A. Tomaselli * AFRICAN STUDIES REVIEW *Table of ContentsContentsPreface: Out with the Authentic, In with the WazimamotoAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Creation of a Cinema Engagé1. Did We Get Off to the Wrong Start? Toward an Aesthetic of Surface versus Depth2. Sembène's Xala, the Fetish, and the Failed Trickster3. Cameroonian Cinema: Ba Kobhio, Teno, and the Technologies of Power4. From Jalopy to Goddess: Quartier Mozart, Faat Kine, and Divine carcasse5. Toward a Žižekian Reading of African Cinema6. Aristotle's Plot: What's Inside the Can?7. Finye: The Fantasmic Support8. Hyenas: Truth, Badiou's Ethics, and the Return of the Void9. Toward a Postmodern African Cinema: Fanta Nacro's "Un Certain matin" and Djibril Diop Mambéty's Parlons Grand-MèreNotesFilmographyBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisA contemporary study of the rise of sound design and its relationship to science fiction cinema.Trade Review"Sound Design is a major achievement in film studies that should be widely read as a general introduction to the underappreciated art and practice of sound. Whittington makes a compelling case for the centrality of sound to the modern Hollywood aesthetic. While surveying the evolution of sound technology, post-production practices and design in seminal science-fiction films of the last forty years, he concurrently provides a comprehensive introduction to the various components of the soundtrack and how they create meaning. He carefully defines terms such as Foley and source music not just in a glossary but as they arise, in such a way that the book can serve as a textbook on sound design in general, not just on the one genre...given the brilliant research that has been devoted to the transition to sound, I am particularly excited that Whittington has chosen to focus on more recent developments." Elisabeth Weis, Screen 2008, issue 49Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Part I. The Dawn of Sound Design Chapter 1. Sound Design: Origins and Influences Chapter 2. Music and Speculation in 2001: A Space Odyssey Part II. Sound Montage Chapter 3. The Convergence of Hollywood and New Wave Science Fiction Chapter 4. Suggestive Fragments in THX 1138 Part III. Sound Designing Chapter 5. From Sound Capture to Construction: Building the Lexicon of Sound Designs for Star Wars Chapter 6. Surround Sound and Science Fiction Part IV. Sound Effects Chapter 7. Genre Splicing: Horror and Science Fiction Chapter 8. Alien: Audio-biomechanics Part V. Voice Design Chapter 9. Blade Runners: A Crisis in Voicing Authority, Identity, and Spectacle Part VI. Final Design Chapter 10. Sound Mixing and Sound Design in Science Fiction Cinema: A Mixed Paradox Chapter 11. Mixing Man and Machine in Terminator 2: Judgment Day Part VII. Conclusion: A Sounding of the Future Chapter 12. What is The Matrix? Sound Design in a Digital World Appendix: Overview of the General Processes of Sound Design Notes Glossary Bibliography Filmography Index

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Book SynopsisThrough in-depth investigation of Soderbergh’s work in film, television, and video, as well as an extensive interview with the filmmaker, this book offers a new model of film authorship in the twenty-first century that emphasizes its fundamentally collaboTable of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Part One. Soderbergh and American Cinema Chapter 1. Sex, Lies, and Independent Film Chapter 2. Hollywood Authorship and Transhistorical Taste Cultures Part Two. Authoring and Authorization Chapter 3. Authorial Practice, Collaboration, and Location Production Chapter 4. Critical Reception and the Soderbergh Imprint Part Three. Soderbergh and Textuality Chapter 5. Reading Soderbergh: Textuality and Representation Chapter 6. Intertextual Conversations: Genre, Adaptations, and Remakes Part Four. Soderbergh and Screen Industries Chapter 7. Soderbergh and Television Chapter 8. Boutique Cinema, Section Eight, and DVD Conclusion Appendix. Interview with Steven Soderbergh Notes Bibliography Index

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