Description
Book SynopsisOver the past few decades, French filmmaker Olivier Assayas has become a powerful force in contemporary cinema. Between his first feature
Désordre (1986) and such major works as
L'Eau froide, Irma Vep, Les Destinées Sentimentales, demonlover and, most recently,
L'Heure d'été and
Carlos, he has charted an exciting path, strongly embracing narrative and character and simultaneously dealing with the 'fragmentary reality' of life in a global economy. He also brought a fresh perspective to the problem of politics after '68, a subject that he revisits in his memoir
A Post-May Adolescence (published as a companion book to this volume) and in his most recent film
Après-Mai. This first English-language book about Olivier Assayas includes a major essay by Kent Jones, based on his two decades of correspondence and exchanges of ideas with the filmmaker, as well as contributions from Assayas and his most important artistic collaborators. The central part consists of individual essays on each of his works, written by Chris Chang, Larry Gross, Howard Hampton, Kristin M. Jones, B. Kite, Glenn Kenny, Michael Koresky, Alice Lovejoy, Greil Marcus, Geoffrey O'Brien, Jeff Reichert, Richard Suchenski, and Gina Telaroli.
Trade ReviewEnthusiastic, personal, and easy to read.... Recommended. * Choice *
The book is really beautiful: the layout is terrific, the illustrations fantastic, well-chosen; it’s truly a wonderful package. -- Some Came Running
A thoughtful, personal survey of Assayas's career by American critics edited by Jones and an English translation of Assayas's 2002 memoir 'A Post-May Adolescence: Letter to Alice Debord', both published in handsome volumes by the Austrian Film Museum, expose this tension in Assayas's work: between a desire for risk and a sensitive intelligence resistant to easy solutions; between allegiance to cinema 'degree zero,' a cinema of presence, and a romantic fascination with the passage of time...Jones, who writes four of the essays himself, has been in correspondence with Assayas for two decades, and the richness of the book is due not only to his deep affinity for Assayas's work but from the dialogue that has developed between the two of them on the nature of cinema and art. -- Film Comment
Table of ContentsPreface, by Kent Jones
Westway to the World, by Glenn Kenny
Black Boxes. Désordre, by Jeff Reichert
Cold Comforts. L'Enfant de l'hiver, by Alice Lovejoy
When You Leave, You Want Time to Stand Still. Paris s'éveille, by Michael Koresky
Moving On. Une nouvelle vie, by Kent Jones
Revival. L'Eau froide, by Howard Hampton
The Strange Case of Irma Vep. Irma Vep, by Larry Gross
After Art Cinema. HHH—Portrait de Hou Hsiao-hsien, by Kristin M. Jones
The Soul in Times of Danger. Fin août, début septembre, by Richard Suchenski
"How Futile Work Is." Les Destinées sentimentales, by B. Kite
Stop Stop Start Again. Demonlover, by Nick Pinkerton
Better to Fade Away. Clean, by Chris Chang
The Doctor Is In. Noise, by Gina Telaroli
Anywhere and Everywhere. Boarding Gate, by Kent Jones
Cosmic Pulses. Eldorado, by Geoffrey O'brien
The Secret Life of Objects. L'Heure d'été, by Greil Marcus
What the Film Wants. Carlos, by Kent Jones
Lost Companions and Fleeing Ghosts. Après-Mai, by David Phelps, Kent Jones
Early and In-Between. Short Films, by Collaborators
Denis Lenoir, Éric Gautier, Sylvie Barthet, and Luc Barnier in conversation with Kent Jones, by Olivier Assayas
Ten Films
Timeline
Filmography
Bibliography
Contributors
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
