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The HTF reading (yes, reading) challenge (1 Viewer)

Steve Enemark

Second Unit
Joined
Jun 30, 1997
Messages
482
Does that mean you'll put Hitchcock's Notebooks on the official reading list? I've already read the Truffaut interview book, and a Hitchcock book absolutely must be on my list of ten.
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Pascal A

Second Unit
Joined
Aug 2, 2000
Messages
496
Darren, I commend you on your inspired and deeply personal review of Sculpting in Time.
I cannot provide any additional words of encouragement, except to say that Sculpting in Time is an illuminating window into the soul of a contemplative, and profoundly spiritual visionary.
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Strictly Film School
 

JungWoo

Agent
Joined
Nov 29, 1999
Messages
34
I am still at the preface, and I'm not getting anywhere. Not that Kracauer book is not highly interesting, it argues in the first page that film is very akin to photograph, which inspired my ill-fated HTF poll about "what is cinema". I just need to motivate myself.
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Congratulation on your wonderful review, I am definitely tempted to have a look at the book.
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http://www.geocities.com/the7thart/index.html My Life to Live
"Cinema is truth 24 frames per second." - Godard
My Home Theater and My DVD Collection
Cinema: seventh art
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DonaldB

Supporting Actor
Joined
Mar 30, 2000
Messages
763
That's a most impressive review, Darren. I wish that more forum members were so eloquent.
As one who's long admired Tarkovsky, and as one who's had his life revolve around nothing but art and beauty for an even longer time, I suppose I owe it to myself to get a copy of this book. Your epiphany that film should be "something more" is something every aesthete can relate to, as I'm sure we all remember that period in our lives when mere entertainment ceased to satisfy, and we became consumed by a hunger for something more substantial, a hunger and a sense of curiosity and wonder that when finally slaked with the discovery of some new gem triggers in us that apoplectic state of bliss that Nabokov spoke of so beautifully.
As a matter of fact, many years ago I wrote a very earnest (and quite pretentious) poem called, believe it or not, "Something More," whose very theme is in large part the same as that found in your review.
I congratulate you on your conversion and am pleased to see another person who appreciates the transcendent.
 

Mark Pfeiffer

Screenwriter
Joined
Jun 27, 1999
Messages
1,339
I finished reading Rosenbaum's "Movie Wars" a week or so ago but haven't got around to writing anything up about it. (Go figure, I've cranked out reviews for several films, including The Orphic Trilogy, but haven't had the energy to write anything up about it.) One down, nine to go!
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Read my reviews at www.dvdmon.com
Most recent reviews: Gimme Shelter: The Criterion Collection , Peeping Tom: The Criterion Collection , The McGarrigle Hour , The Umbrellas of Cherbourg , Beautiful People , Hard Boiled: The Criterion Collection
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Rich Malloy

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2000
Messages
3,998

David Oliver

Second Unit
Joined
Apr 12, 1999
Messages
327
Al:
I could probably pick up the sixth edition at my school bookstore. That is where I got my copy. It is about $55. Seeing as how you live in Boston have you tried the University bookstores around town there?
 

Rich Malloy

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2000
Messages
3,998
Whoah - $55? Did yours come with a supplement and a CD-ROM?
Even though that's almost twice as much as the 5th ed. at BN.com I think it might be worthwhile given what are supposed to be extensive revisions, as well as the supplemental materials. I'll give the local college bookstores a shot!
 

Darren H

Second Unit
Joined
May 10, 2000
Messages
447
Thanks, everyone, for the kind words.
Your epiphany that film should be "something more" is something every aesthete can relate to.
The funny thing about this is that I've known for years that the arts offered "something more" -- I've studied the humanities for the last decade, first as an undergrad, then a graduate student -- but Tarkovsky's book reminded me of why I began pursuing these damn degrees in the first place. In general, the academic approach to the arts requires stripping the work of its beauty and passion, reducing it instead to little more than rhetorical devices and ideology. While I see great intellectual (and even ethical) value in that process, it's not why I love to read.
Hence the new sig. Darren H - "Aesthete" - I like that.
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S&S Challenge: 70 56
Read a book!
 

David Oliver

Second Unit
Joined
Apr 12, 1999
Messages
327
Al:
Yes, $55 includes the book, a supplement titled something like "How to Watch Movies" and the CD-Rom...which I have not looked at yet.
 

Pascal A

Second Unit
Joined
Aug 2, 2000
Messages
496
Without getting into too much of a non sequitur, I'm always interested in hearing the perspective of people in the Arts and Humanities fields react to the films that have great significance for me. As a scientist, what draws me to Tarkovsky's cinema is that beyond the surface aesthetics of his visually breathtaking films, there is an underlying hunger for enlightenment - for seeking fundamental truth, knowledge and meaning - for understanding, not only how the universe works, but also the infinite workings of the human mind. How does man reconcile with his own insignificance to his environment? How does a human being transcend an existence bound in longing and pain? It is through the exploration of these themes that I find profound connection with Tarkovsky.
Anyway, on a much lighter note, I unexpectedly made a major dent in Satyajit Ray's Childhood Days: A Memoir this weekend, thanks to an unexpected snowstorm. I finished the book last night. Here are my thoughts on this book.
Childhood Days: A Memoir - Satyajit Ray
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Greg_Y

Screenwriter
Joined
Mar 7, 1999
Messages
1,466
Bad news (for me at least). An Introduction to Film Studies, which was to be my first book, stinks. It's very dry and I just can't take it anymore. I stopped about 1/4 of the way through. So now I have to wait until I can get a good price on the 6th edition of Film Art: An Introduction. Cheapest I've seen it for is ~$35 with a coupon at BN.com. In the meantime, I'm reading a non-film book, Zinn's A People's History of the United States: 1492 - Present. I'll be back in a week or two.
ADD: You can get the 6th edition of Film Art: An Introduction by Bordwell and Thomas at www.bn.com. The ISBN number is 0-07-238932-X. There are plenty of $10 off $40 coupons for BN.com (e.g. CISCOEF is a coupon code that works for all customers.) Total cost is $40 and change.
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Edwin Pereyra

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 26, 1998
Messages
3,500

Darren H

Second Unit
Joined
May 10, 2000
Messages
447
Vivre sa Vie (My Life to Live) said:
That combination of almost clinical detachment and pathos is what most struck me about the film. In my limited experiences with Godard, I had come to expect the former, but was quite surprised to find myself so moved by Nana. Of course, that pathos is probably inevitable any time a camera comes near Anna Karina's eyes. (Yes, I now hold a new appreciation of JungWoo's sig.) Quite a film. I have a feeling I'll be buying a copy for myself.
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S&S Challenge: 70 56
Read a book!
 

DanielKS

Auditioning
Joined
Jan 19, 2001
Messages
1
Add this one to your list, folks:
Which Lie Did I Tell? Further Adventures in Screenwriting
by
William Goldman.
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JungWoo

Agent
Joined
Nov 29, 1999
Messages
34
While they probably wouldn't count in the challenge since they are anthologies rather than a book, I would highly recommend Movies and Methods, vol.1 and 2 (edited by Bill Nichols) and
They contain some of the most interesting and insightful articles, essays, or excerpts of a book - and they cover wide subject and various movies. I bought the Movies and Methods yesterday at UCLA bookstore. And I think that will be great addition for those interested in cinema. Since they are anthologies, they are especially excellent for those of us who approach anything over 20 pages with sigh like me.
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http://www.geocities.com/the7thart/index.html My Life to Live
"Cinema is truth 24 frames per second." - Godard
My Home Theater
Cinema: seventh art
S&S 100 Films Forum Challenge
 

Darren H

Second Unit
Joined
May 10, 2000
Messages
447
So are any of you still reading? Here's my second review.
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Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski by Annette Insdorf
Insdorf’s is a terribly frustrating book. She seems the perfect candidate for the job of writing such an auteur study. As a professor in Columbia University’s Graduate Film Division and a personal translator and friend of Kieslowski, she has the experience, vocabulary, and intimate acquaintance necessary for successfully melding biography, research, and analysis.
She also sets out with the right questions in mind: How was Kieslowski’s body of work shaped by personal experience, particularly by his life under Communism? What other directors, artists, and thinkers shaped his aesthetic? What preoccupations, both ideological and stylistic, form the backbone of his work? What precipitated his move from documentary to narrative film, and how did each influence the other?
Unfortunately, in attempting to answer all of these questions (and in only 180 pages), Insdorf fails to address any of them adequately. My main beef with the book is that I can’t figure out who it was written for. It reads like Kieslowski for Dummies, but I find it difficult to imagine the “Dummies” audience investing the time and energy required of a work like, say, The Decalogue. I would imagine that those of us willing to wrestle with the complexities of Kieslowski’s films will typically study his life with a similar rigor.
One more (admittedly petty) complaint: Insdorf’s writing can be plain maddening at times. Lines like this just make me cringe:
] has nothing to do with politics. It simply tells the story of a man who wants very little and can’t get it. – Kieslowski
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S&S Challenge: 70 56
Read a book!
 

Rich Malloy

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2000
Messages
3,998
Some quick comments on the 6th Ed of Film Art: An Introduction.
This edition seems skewed much more toward modern and mainstream film than my old 2nd Edition. There are some interesting updates, a better layout, an entire section on film distribution...
But, for me, it's more of a really in-depth supplement/update to my 2nd edition - not a replacement. I guess I presumed it would still have all the old material - stuff like the analyses of Dreyer's DAY OF WRATH and Resnais' LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD - but, instead, many of the old in-depth analyses have been replaced by new ones (Do the Right Thing, for example).
I'm also disappointed that the entire section on the New German Cinema has been removed, with nary a mention of important filmmakers such as RW Fassbinder and Werner Herzog. I 'spose it's true that the New German Cinema never coalesced into an easily identifiable cinematic movement with clear distinguishing attributes, but nonetheless it was a time of great creativity and renewal. In fact, the only member of the "New German Cinema" that I believe is referenced anywhere in the new edition is Wim Wenders, IMO the filmmaker with the weakest legacy of the bunch.
In short (and only upon a quick reading), it's still an excellent resource, probably the best introductory resource for the serious student of film... but don't throw away those old editions!
Hey, is this a competition of some sort? If so, put me down for Tarkovsky's Sculpting in Time - I've read and reread that one many times now, so how about some extra credit?
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