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.''Accessible without being dumbed down . . . Filled with perceptive insights and fascinating juxtapositions . . . A closing lit of 1,000 favorite films is sure to spark debate among cineastes while offering a long checklist of films to watch.''Publishers Weekly
AcknowledgmentsIntroductionI. ClassicsFables of the Reconstruction: The Four-Hour GreedFascinating Rhythms: MThe Color of Paradise: Jour de fêteBackyard Ethics: Hitchcock's Rear WindowSongs in the Key of Everyday Life: The Umbrellas of CherbourgA Tale of the Wind: Joris Ivens's Last TestamentKira Muratova's Home Truths: The Asthenic SyndromeThe Importance of Being Sarcastic: SátántangóBlushThe CeremonyThievesTrue Grit: RosettaII. Special ProblemsMalick's ProgressImprovisations and Interactions in Altmanville, with an Afterword: NashvilleMixed Emotions: Breaking the WavesFast, Cheap & Out of ControlThe Sweet Cheat: Time RegainedJames Benning's Four CornersOverrated Solutions: L'humanitéThe Sound of German: Straub-Huillet's The Death of EmpedoclesBeyond the Clouds: Return to BeautyReality and History as the Apotheosis of Southern Sleaze: Phil Karlson's The Phenix City StoryIs Ozu Slow?The Human Tough: Decalogue and FargoIII. Other Canons, Other CanonizersLfie Intimidates Art: Irma VepStanley Kwan's Actress: Writing History in QuicksandCritical Distance: Godard's ContemptRemember Amnesia? (Guy Maddin's Archangel), with an Afterword: Ten Years Later (Please Watch Carefully: The Heart of the World)Ragged but Right: Rivette's Up Down FragileCritic with a Camera: Marker on TarkovskyRiddles of a Spinx: From the Journals of Jean SebergInternational Harvest: National Film Histories on VideoInternational Sampler: Ghost Dog: The Way of the SamuraiNot the Same Old Song and Dance: The Young Girls of RochefortFlaming Creatures and Scotch TapeRuiz Hopping and Buried Treasures: Twelve Selected Global SitesIV. Disputable ContendersBack in Style: Bertolucci's BesiegedThe Young One: Buñuel's Neglected MasterpieceIn Dreams Begin Responsibilities: Kubrick's Eyes Wide ShutThe Best of Both Worlds: A.I. Artificial IntelligenceUnder the Chador: The Day I Became a WomanChains of Ignorance: Charles Burnett's NightjohnGood Vibrations: Waking LifeHell on Wheels: Taxi DriverMeat, John, Dough: Pretty WomanTashlinesqueWeird and Wonderful: Takeshi Kitano's KikujiroCorpus CallosumV. FilmmakersMann of the WestOtto PremingerNicholas RayExiles in Modernity: Films by Edward YangHou Hsiao-hsien: Becoming TaiwaneseThe Countercultural Histories of Rudy WurlitzerSam Fuller: The Words of an Innocent WarriorThe Mysterious Elaine May: Hiding in Plain SightVisionary Agitprop: I Am CubaThe Battle over Orson WellesLicense to Feel: Distant Voices, Still Lives and The Neon BibleDeath and Life: Landscapes of the Soul'The Cinema of AlexanderDovzhenkoAppendix: 1,000 Favorites (A Personal Canon)Index
""His observations on film composition are astute and thought-provoking... Essential Cinema is essential reading for the movie buff.""
