In this Book
- Essential Cinema: On the Necessity of Film Canons
- Book
- 2004
- Published by: Johns Hopkins University Press
summary
In his astute and deeply informed film reviews and essays, Jonathan Rosenbaum regularly provides new and brilliant insights into the cinema as art, entertainment, and commerce. Guided by a personal canon of great films, Rosenbaum sees, in the ongoing hostility toward the idea of a canon shared by many within the field of film studies, a missed opportunity both to shape the discussion about cinema and to help inform and guide casual and serious filmgoers alike.In Essential Cinema, Rosenbaum forcefully argues that canons of great films are more necessary than ever, given that film culture today is dominated by advertising executives, sixty-second film reviewers, and other players in the Hollywood publicity machine who champion mediocre films at the expense of genuinely imaginative and challenging works. He proposes specific definitions of excellence in film art through the creation a personal canon of both well-known and obscure movies from around the world and suggests ways in which other canons might be similarly constructed.Essential Cinema offers in-depth assessments of an astonishing range of films: established classics such as Rear Window, M, and Greed; ambitious but flawed works like The Thin Red Line and Breaking the Waves; eccentric masterpieces from around the world, including Irma Vep and Archangel; and recent films that have bitterly divided critics and viewers, among them Eyes Wide Shut and A.I. He also explores the careers of such diverse filmmakers as Robert Altman, Raúl Ruiz, Frank Tashlin, Elaine May, Sam Fuller, Terrence Davies, Edward Yang, Hou Hsiao-hsien, and Orson Welles. In conclusion, Rosenbaum offers his own film canon of 1,000 key works from the beginning of cinema to the present day. A cogent and provocative argument about the art of film, Essential Cinema is also a fiercely independent reference book of must-see movies for film lovers everywhere.
Table of Contents
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- Acknowledgments
- p. ix
- Introduction
- pp. xi-xxi
- I. CLASSICS
- Fascinating Rhythms: M
- pp. 13-18
- The Color of Paradise: Jour de f
- pp. 19-25
- The Importance of Being Sarcastic: S
- pp. 48-52
- The Ceremony
- pp. 58-61
- True Grit: Rosetta
- pp. 67-71
- II. SPECIAL PROBLEMS
- Malick’s Progress
- pp. 75-79
- Mixed Emotions: Breaking the Waves
- pp. 95-100
- Fast, Cheap & Out of Control
- pp. 101-104
- The Sweet Cheat: Time Regained
- pp. 105-112
- James Benning’s Four Corners
- pp. 113-118
- Overrated Solutions: L’humanité
- pp. 119-122
- Beyond the Clouds: Return to Beauty
- pp. 130-135
- Is Ozu Slow?
- pp. 146-151
- The Human Touch: Decalogue and Fargo
- pp. 152-159
- III. OTHER CANONS, OTHER CANONIZERS
- Life Intimidates Art: Irma Vep
- pp. 163-169
- Critical Distance: Godard’s Contempt
- pp. 179-186
- Ragged but Right: Rivette’s Up Down Fragile
- pp. 194-198
- Critic with a Camera: Marker on Tarkovsky
- pp. 199-203
- Flaming Creatures and Scotch Tape
- pp. 230-235
- IV. DISPUTABLE CONTENDERS
- Back in Style: Bertolucci’s Besieged
- pp. 251-256
- Under the Chador: The Day I Became a Woman
- pp. 280-284
- Good Vibrations: Waking Life
- pp. 291-294
- Hell on Wheels: Taxi Driver
- pp. 295-301
- Meat, John, Dough: Pretty Woman
- pp. 302-305
- Tashlinesque
- pp. 306-312
- *Corpus Callosum
- pp. 317-318
- V. FILMMAKERS
- Mann of the West
- pp. 321-325
- Otto Preminger
- pp. 326-333
- Nicholas Ray
- pp. 334-337
- Exiles in Modernity: Films by Edward Yang
- pp. 338-345
- Hou Hsiao-hsien: Becoming Taiwanese
- pp. 346-350
- Visionary Agitprop: I Am Cuba
- pp. 370-375
- The Battle over Orson Welles
- pp. 376-385
- Appendix: 1,000 Favorites (A Personal Canon)
- pp. 407-425
Additional Information
ISBN
9780801895142
Related ISBN(s)
9780801878404, 9780801889714
MARC Record
OCLC
647881188
Pages
472
Launched on MUSE
2012-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No