What cinema books are you reading right now?

!!

Japanese Film Directors, Audie Bock, 1978_I’ve never read it, good essays. Funny cover.

…let’s see…. It’s called The Film Book. Has a ton of info about the making of movies in the silent era, which is useful knowledge for young lads like myself.

Re reading Kubrick-Inside A Film Artist’s Maze by Thomas Allen Nelson Read the first edition in the early 80s.
Found the latest edition (that covers up to Eyes Wide Shut) at a thrift store for a dollar fifty. The previous owner only read and underlined the first chapter.

Neither God nor Master: Robert Bresson and Radical Politics.

At work and before bed:

By my toilet:

It’s like Chicken Soup for the Cinephile Soul.

@Mikel – Is Neither God nor Master good? I just bought James Quandt’s huge collected Bresson essays book last week, so you can see I’m on a kick with Bresson.

Love Down and Dirty Pictures. Very shady business.

The Complete Filmmaker’s Guide To Film Festivals by Rona Edwards and Monika Skerbelis. Very informative and quite a lot of information to consume, but definitely enjoying it!

The latest books I have been reading – “Frank Capra: The Name Above the Title: An Autobiography”, “Images – My Life in Film by Ingmar Bergman”, “The Monogram Checklist”, “Silent Cinema”, “Movies of the Silent Years”, “The Marx Bros. Scrapbook”, “The Films of Laurel & Hardy”.

@ Oxymoron- yeah, Figures Traced in Light is great- especially the Staging and Style chapter and for me the Mizoguchi chapter. It should be a must for all film courses.

The latest cinema books on my reading queue: “Cahiers du Cinema” (1950’s and 1960’s books by Jim Hillier), “Making Waves: New Cinemas of the 1960s” by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith, “The Adventures of Roberto Rossellini: His Life and Films” by Tag Gallagher, “Italian Cinema: From Neorealism to the Present” by Peter Bondanella, “John Ford: The Man and His Films” by Tag Gallagher, “Fellini on Fellini” by Federico Fellini, “The French Cinema Book” by Michael Temple and Michael Witt, “Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Sometimes Zeppo” by Joe Adamson, “Film Noir: The Dark Side of the Screen” by Foster Hirsch and “Cinema for French Conversation – 2nd Edition” by Anne- Christine Rice.

The Ultimate Book of Gangster Movies by George Anastasia and Glen Macnow. Weimar Cinema: An Essential Guide by Noah Isenberg, Fritz Lang by Lotte Eisner, The Architercture of Vision by Michelangelo Antonioni, The French New Wave by Ginette Vincendeau and Peter Graham, I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephrone, Deadline at Dawn: Film Criticsm 1980-1990 by Judith Williamson, The Essential Chaplin by Richard Schickel, Renoir on Renoir by Carol Volk and Jean Renoir and The DSLR Filmmaker’s handbook by Barry Anderson and Janie L. Geyen.

Finished Burt Lancaster – An American Life, was a really good one. Currently flicking through Schneider’s (ed.) 1001 Films to See Before You Die. There are issues with it – many entries post spoilers, and the selection for the last 10 years is pretty wack (in a recent edition, they got rid of Hidden and Mulholland Drive to fit space for Avatar, amongst others) but the writings for films especially over 40-70s is a goldmine. Rosenbaum’s entries are especially of note.

Just started reading Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, which I discovered thanks to this thread. Amazing so far – kept me up far too late last night.

This must be a huge book – I downloaded the Kindle version and it doesn’t have numbered pages, but it seems like I have to read through 3 or 4 screens before it clicks ahead another percent (if 1 screen = 1 percent, that means it’s about a hundred pages – so this thing must be like 3 or 4 hundred).

I’ve always loved this group of films/filmmakers that re-invigorated Hollywood in the late 60’s and through the 70’s, and it’s great to see the story behind how it happened (and very eye-opening).

Subversive Realitäten: Tsai Ming-Liang und seine Filme (Subversive Realities: Tsai Ming liang and his films) by Ella Raidel. One of the only books about Tsai that I could find. A great read with some interesting background infos, an Interview with Tsai and thoughtful analysis of the man’s work. But only in German, so…

Just finished Mary Wiles’ book on Rivette; now onto A Short History of Cahiers du Cinéma. After that, Bruno Dumont : L’animalité et la grâce is next in line…

Reading this at work. Seems pretty rudimentary to me, but Cowie’s collection of quotes is pretty impressive, so it’s definitely worth it.

Only just finished the first chapter, but it’s already a quite fascinating read.

Sergi Einstein-Film Form

^ First, I think that FILMLIFE means Sergei Eisenstein. To the best of my knowledge, Einstein did not write a book about film theory. :-)

I’m researching the period 1947-67 for a volume on American Screenwriting. I’ve found useful the Rutgers University Press series called “Screen Decades.” The ones I’m plowing through are therefore:

AMERICAN CINEMA OF THE 1940s
AMERICAN CINEMA OF THE 1950s
AMERICAN CINEMA OF THE 1960s

Each volume is arranged by year with a different author writing about each year in the given decade.

I have an essay on 1976 in AMERICAN CINEMA OF THE 1970s, edited by Lester Friedman.

Cowie’s Revolution is good as far as popular journalism goes. Right now I’m trying to fight my way through Deleuze’s Cinema 1 Movement Image. So far it’s terrible.

“Einstein did not write a book about film theory”

Hey, the General and Special Theories of Relativity has profound significance to both film theory and the modern methods in which we think about, construct, and craft narrative and non-narrative cinema!

—PolarisDiB

PolarisDIB: You’re right about the influence of Einstein on thinking about cinema. Werner Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle has even more applications to film theory, especially with regard to documentaries. My academic friend, Martha Nochimson, is completing a book on David Lynch that suggests that his films are highly influenced by particle physics, especially Schrödinger’s equation.

However, I stand by my statement: “Einstein did not write a book about film theory.” I think you were half-joking but didn’t see a smiley face. So, to make it clear, let me reword it: “Einstein did not write a book SPECIFICALLY about film theory.”

Hmm. Particle physics and David Lynch? And I thought I had to fight through Deleuze!

Bobby: To paraphrase the old show business cliche, “Deleuze is difficult but not as hard as doing comedy.”

“I think you were half-joking but didn’t see a smiley face.”

Indeed. ;-P

—DiB

Currently reading “The Movies Are: Carl Sandburg’s Film Reviews and Essays 1920-1928” by Arnie Bernstein, “Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. Demille” by Scott Eyman, “A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting and Filmmaking” by Samuel Fuller, “Classics of the Silent Screen” by Joe Franklin, “Screwball: Hollywood’s Madcap Romantic Comedies” by Ed Sikov, “The New Wave: Truffaut, Godard, Chabrol, Rohmer, Rivette” by James Monaco, “I Feel Bad About My Neck” by Nora Ephron, “My Life and My Films” by Jean Renoir, “Adventures with D.W. Griffith” by Karl Brown", “D.W. Griffith: An American Life” by Richard Schickel, “Talmadge Girls” by Anita Loos, “Faber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber” edited by Robert Polito and “Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage” by Stanley Cavell.

Is that Nora Ephron book any good? My mother-in-law, who buys whatever is on the bestseller list, had it at her place when I was there last weekend. I read through the first couple chapters. Seemed thoughtful and amusing; a nice light read.

The Fuller autobiography is entertaining as hell. As it should be.