Directors Books

This was a wonderful book. It examined Welles' career not in light of Citizen Kane but through his Shakespeare projects. This cast Welles in a very different light for me.

Welles tried to make Shakespeare accessible. To him, Shakespeare should not be something in a glass case at a museum. Thus he kept shaking up the Shakespeare plays he adapted. And critics hated him for it. His film of "Macbeth" in particular got raked over the coals.

The book shows how Shakespeare was regarded in American culture in the 20th Century and how Welles tried to shape that attitude. It is a slim book, but it gives the reader very much to think about in an accessible, jargon-free way.

Anyone interested in Shakespeare and Orson Welles will want to buy this extremely useful and unusually thoughtful book. It is quite compact and offers chapters on all of the Shakespeare films Welles made. Anderegg argues tht Welles sought to democratize Shakespeare through the use of mass media such as records, radio, and film. there's a wonderful opening chapter about an I Love Lucy episode with Welles and a stunning conclusion about Welles as a star author (Anderegg contrast him with Bertolt Brecht). The book is very well-written and very accesible. Ideal for classroom use.

Falsetto's book of interviews with an eclectic group of working directors is destined to be a classic along side the Projections series and Joseph Gelmis' Film Director As Superstar. Since the level of most film journalism has descended to the level of one global corporate circle jerk, it is refreshing and inspiring to see someone as intelligent, sympathetic and knowledgable interview directors as varied as Neil Jordan and Atom Egoyan about the ups and downs of making films in today's amnesiac and malthusian marketplace. Falsetto has done an amazing amount of ground work in preparation for this book and it shows in the honest and sincere level of responses he gets from filmmakers. There is none of the usual 'It Was A Pleasure to Work With Joe Superstar' rhetoric here. The directors shed their knee jerk junket responses and show us what it really entails to make ambitious, thought provoking films today. Falsetto teaches at Concordia University in Montreal, but don't hold this against him. He is one of those increasingly rare academics who has not lost the ability to communicate his ideas and passion about his subject. I can't say enough good things about this book. If I have a caveat, it is that I wish each interview had come with a filmography (and an index would be useful). But those are mere quibbles. Let's all hope Personal Visions sells enough for a sequel. This book is on the same level as classic Paris Review interviews with writers.

Author Mario Falsetto has just given us a priceless compilation of interviews with some of the most original, provocative, and dedicated filmmakers of the contemporary era. But, "Personal Visions" is obviously much more than just a series of interviews with "free-thinking", or "hip" filmmakers. It is an reflexion on the role of the film artist who, nowadays, is caught in the vicious web of a vicious corporate world (i.e. in or outside of Hollywood). Through a skilful process of Q&A (ranging from the filmmakers' backgrounds to specifics about their film and theater work), the author is questionning the general assumption about "independant cinema". (Like one of the interviewee, director John McNaughton, says: "Everyone's talking about independant cinema, but show it to me!".) Each of the 17 artists interviewed by Falsetto has a very special insight into the business, making "Personal Vision" a must-read for any aspiring filmmakers (or for anyone interested in what film directors have to say about movies and the day-to-day creative process). Edited to the perfection, this book is engaging, stimulating, and always entertaining. It is also an invaluable work of reference for film scholars at all levels. Undoubtedly, "Personal Visions" will be around for a very long time. Kudos on your fine work mister Falsetto. Your interest in "young" filmmakers should stand as an model for all the other film critics around the world.

Kevin Dwyer's "Ireland - Our Island Home" highlights that island's heritage with a stunning collection of aerial photographs around Ireland's coastline. The images, shot from helicopters and small planes at low altitude and oblique angles, provide beautiful, detailed panoramas. The contrasting scenary ranges from the urban areas around Dublin and Cork to the wilds of West Ireland. A series of captions and miniature maps describe the subjects and the general locations where the photographs were taken.

The photographs are a reminder of how varied the Irish landscape can be, and how beautifully green it looks from the air (and from the ground). Lighthouses, farm fields, sheep pastures, and small villages mingle with old forts and modern port facilities. This book is highly recommended to those who have been to Ireland, and to those who plan to go. The book provides a unique perspective on a lovely country.

We went to Ireland and picked up this book while we were there. I was afraid that it would be cheaper in the U.S. -- we paid 30 euros -- and it was. Still, we have no buyer's regret.

This is a set of stunning aerial shots of the Irish coastline. While we took what we think are very good pictures, these are beautiful pictures that we cannot duplicate because they are aerial. They will be treasured reminders of many of the places that we visited.

If you're going to Ireland, been to Ireland, or just wish that you could go, and you love to hang out in coastal areas, this is a book for you.

Its probably not fair that I write this review so early as I am only on chapter 3. But... this is a most informative and entertaining book to read. There is obviously a good collaboration between Sibley and PJ as much of it is not only written with PJ's cooperation, but in his words from personal in depth interviews. Great personal family photos also.

I ordered my copy from AmazonUK. Its too bad it is not more readily available here in the U.S. but do try and get a copy. You won't be sorry.

The book is on the shelves in New Zealand right now. It's a remarkable journey he has made, from struggling apprentice printer to mogul.

The book, like his movies, is long, and rewarding for it. The emphasis is more on pre-LOTR work and life, and it really focuses on the movies - no business or personal exposes here.

Three things struck me:
The first is his overwhelming passion for movies - passion that led him to just do it, rather than learn first by going to university. The results speak volumes, and he is in good company with this approach.

The second is that he is a leader with an ability to gather large amounts of people around him - from the first movie made with a bunch of mates on weekends, to LOTR with over 24,000 kiwis involved.

And the third is that he is an astute businessman - the book only hints at this, but it is clear from the continuous improvement in his Film Commission submissions, and the improvement in the deals struck with New line and Universal.

Read it.

Shinder and advisory editors Michael O'Keefe and Lili Taylor have put together one lovely collection that, by extension, shows the power of poetry in the daily life of creative people everywhere.

In "The Poem I Turn To" we are given an impressive cross-section of film artists sharing the poems that move and inspire them. I love the informal commentaries by actors and directors giving testimony to how the poem they've selected has worked in their lives. Each poem is accompanied by a short bio of the poet. The bios for the filmakers appears in the back of the book for easy reference.

The poets chosen lean on the Anglo-American canon, but they selections do step out...and also rub against each other in interesting ways. I'd like to see an index in the book so I could look up poets by name and poems by title.

You'll love meeting both familiar friends and new poems in "The Poem I Turn To."

Janet Grace Riehl, author Sightlines: A Poet's Diary

The Poem I Turn To: Actors & Directors Present Poetry That Inspires Them is a wonderful anthology that embraces poems chosen by some of our most notable actors, directors, and other movie makers such as actors Alan Arkin, Carrie Fisher, Jane Fonda, Amy Bloom, Steve Buscemi, Paul Guilfoyle, Daryl Hannah, Melissa Leo, Alfre Woodard and David Duke, producers or directors Michael Fitzgerald, Kathleen Glynn, John Landis, Billy Luther, Eric Mendelsohn, Screenwriters Kyra Sedgwick, Michael Lally, and several more.

Each one of these personalities have selected two of their best loved poems and as mentioned in the introduction, the reasons for their choices are wide and varied such as the "lyrical tenderness of a poem, its physicality and beauty of the body, the passing of time, the intense sorrow of war, the great joy of nature, the elusive and ephemeral light and darkness of memory, and the capacity and courage to sustain love."

All have found splendour within the poetic language that have reached inside and touched them on a unique level or plateau that live in their body, mind and spirit. As Jason Shinder states in the introduction, "By sharing the poems they turn to, and commenting on their choices, the contributors in this book offer testimony to our essential human need for contemplation in a work in which the velocity and volume of experience are often overwhelming."

The wide spectrum of poems that have been included represent many schools of poetry and many different types of poets. You will read and even hear poems from some well-known poets as Shakespeare, Edna St. Vincent Millay, T.S. Eliot, Mark Twain, Pulitzer prize winner Mary Oliver, Eugene O'Neill, Ezra Pound, Robert Frost, to the lesser known as Anna Akhmatova whose was born in the Ukraine in 1889 and whose work was banned from 1925 through 1940, Clarence R. Wylie, Jr. who was both a poet and mathematics professor at Furman University in South Carolina, Meghan O'Rourke whose first book of poetry, HALFLIFE was published in 2007 and many others.

One poem, and yes there were many more, that particularly touched me was Ezra Pound's In a Station at the Metro chosen by actor Michael O'Keefe whose first acclaimed film role was as the oldest son of Marine aviator in The Great Santini.

Pound's poet is succinct yet says it all when he writes:

"The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
"Petals on a wet black bough."

O'Keefe's comments pertaining to this poem are particularly interesting when he states: "By establishing the location of the poem in the title, In a station of the metro, the vivid image that follows completes the poem and one is transported to that literary station of the mind's eye where the `apparition of these faces in the crowd' instantly become, petals on a wet black bough. The poem is apprehended and its imagery is established so quickly that it is over faster than a train passing in the Parish Metro. Whoosh: a poem."

It should be pointed out that included along with the poems are brief bios of the poets as well as comments from the contributors pointing out, as O'Keefe has done, the essential ingredients of the poem and why they have chosen it.

In addition, as poems have a unique power when read aloud, included with the book is a CD of carefully chosen pieces featuring Hollywood personalities reading their chosen works. In fact, Michael O'Keefe reads In a Station at the Metro, Lily Taylor reads Robert Frost's, The Road Not Taken and many more. When some of these poems are heard aloud, we often can get a glimpse of the poet's psyche and in fact sometimes if a poem is well recited it can even prove to be mesmerizing.

The Poem I Turn To: Actors & Directors Present Poetry That Inspires Them is sure to delight poetry fans and even those who may not be aware that poetry can transform your life, for it is in poetry that we perceive language and imagery aiding us in comprehending and interpreting the world.

Norm Goldman, Publisher & Editor Bookpleasures

bell hooks is as critical and analytical as ever. Of all bell hooks' books that I've read, this is the best. The synopsis above says it all. Now all you have to do is read it. Filmmakers, pop culturalists, and people who think will be in pig-heaven

An excellent book that really gives you something to think about as she examines race, sex and class in America through the movies. I really enjoyed reading her feminist views, and her interviews with filmmakers Charles Burnett, Camille Billops, and AJ (Arthur Jafa).

Not only is this a wonderful biography of a great actress/producer/director/teacher - but a lovely insight into Dublin during her life.

There is a protrait of Ria (in costume) that hung in the theatre bar. It was presented to the theatre by former Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Charles Haughey - where is it now ?

McGlone writes a compelling and truly enjoyable story about one the most influential figures of Irish theatre in the 20th century. Why, one wonders, does it take a college professor from New Jersey to singularly herald this theatrical giant who alone held together the Irish national theatre during its most perilous time? Her personal and professional history spans from O'Casey to Friel, and, as a woman in 1950's Ireland, forged the greatest acting company the Abbey has ever known - yet her picture does not hang in the National Theatre's lobby alongside the other Abbey legends (Yeats, Synge, etc.). McGlone writes a must-read for anyone who's a student of Irish theatrical history, and sends a blaring wake-up call for the current Irish theatrical establishment to arise and start discussing this great woman's prodigious artistic output and impact, and, ultimately, to restore the plays initially produced under her tenure back on today's Abbey stage.

A brilliant and beautifully written book. Tons of information presented in a great way. A must read.

Nice book with lots of practical advice. Summarizes the most important Sarbanes-Oxley stuff in a way that makes it easy to understand.

I cannot think of a more definitive biography than this one! The biography of a master filmmaker is of remarkable detail. Uncommon extras, from something as simple as a section on the maternal and paternal family tree to a page devoted to the pronounciation and origin of the name Satyajit Ray.

Another unusual detailed section is NOTES. The notes refer to a reference line or quote and it's source, publication and date. If the section refers to the Apu Trilogy, then any quotes are clearly identified. Another feature is the glossary of words taken from the book, the languages are Bengali and other Indian languages.

You will also get a complete Filmography and Bibliography, and the book includes a definitive index.

The biography begins with his early life 1921 to his life as a commercial artist and critic. What I believe to be his most famous work, The Apu Trilogy, is well documented and a synopsis is included.

There is plenty of insight into his others, The Music Room, The Goddess, Three Daughters, Kanchenjungha, The Expedition, The Big City, The Lonely Wife, The Coward, and The Hero, Calcutta Trilogy, Distant Thunder, Chess Players, and more.

And, there is more! This is a wonderful reference to one of the greatest movie directors in history. And, he is also a composer!

The version has been updated to cover his death in 1992 and the Ray legacy. A quote on the book from Films and Filming reads: 'A glorious book, a feast of research and insight'

If you haven't seen a Satyajit Ray film, do so and read about it here within 420 pages. ......MzRizz

Any serious admirer of Satyajit Ray probably is already aware of this biography; I would also recommend it to general readers: if you aren't already familiar with Ray (I don't know many Americans who are), you will love him by the time you're done with this very engaging and readable critical bio.

Robinson, who had been a friend of Ray's, spent a number of years working on this, and his account of Ray's family and childhood draws upon interviews and conversations, supplemented with material from Ray's own CHILDHOOD DAYS, MY YEARS WITH APU, and other sources. Robinson paints a portrait of a Calcutta overflowing with creative potential - Ray's family connections to Tagore are also detailed, as are the accomplishments of his father and grandfather, and the intellectual independence of his mother, who seemed to strongly influence at least a few of his cinematic characters.

Later on, Robinson engages in a film-by-film analysis of Ray's career, which includes shorts and documentaries. Accessible but well-researched and well-written critiques are followed with some personal impressions, and quotes from varied film critics and other filmmakers: fans of Jean Renoir and Akira Kurosawa will note their presence here, and their influence upon Ray's thinking and career. Robinson locates each film with certain contexts: Indian cinema, the 1950s/60s international arthouse boom, the artistic milieu of Calcutta, and Ray's many international influences and fascinations; the end result is something that will make one want to see (and read) as much of Ray's work as one can get one's hands on.

I'm a big admirer of Ray, but - in it's success in realizing its' ambitions - Robinson has also created one of the greater artistic biographies I've run across - this is a rich and very sophisticated piece of writing which I very highly recommended to all.

-David Alston

This book was released after headline-making board room issues exploded in the business news several years ago. Ward provides essentials worth our attention in our still quickly-evolving board environment. Note that the book is useful for non-profit boards also as they face increasing mandates to ensure a business-like approach to their planning and execution.

Three subjects in the book were especially important to me based on my work with board development: 1) Finding talent for boards, 2) Training boards, 3) Efficiency of boards.

Ward notes the need to find the specific skills needed for the board. Finding high quality board talent is, to me, going to be increasingly difficult as the generational transition occurs. I have seen boards that have not aggressively chosen and trained new blood, and so they are not training the next generation of senior leaders in organizations. In so many boards, old "names" are recruited rather than skills. It is important that a thorough analysis of organizational needs be done prior to board recruiting, then the right match be made for the knowledge, not the family name.

Training is an issue I have seen gain some attention in nonprofit boards, and I hope that trend continues. Ward provides good direction on creating the foundation for training directors. Training board directors never stops and I have found that some of the best training comes not from "presentation style" materials, but providing challenging technical and market issues to the board members and devoting time for real discussion in the board and subcommittee meetings. Ward hits the points well.

That leads to efficiency. Ward notes techniques such as "consent agendas" as tools to move past the routine and into fuller dialogue for boards. I'd suggest lingering on Ward's list of "syndromes" on audit committees to stimulate your thinking about the ways that old methods can stifle progress. This list has applicability across board practices. Ward also notes techniques to handle nonproductive directors.

This is a terrific introduction to board room work.

When we hear about the scandals in companies like American Enron, Italian Parmalat and so on, we get a little bit of insight into what (also) happens around the mahogany roundtable in the obscure boardroom. We are witness to dictatorial executives, antiquated decision processes, incompetent amateurs, and sometimes even corrupt lawbreakers.

Often the focus is on the catastrophic mistakes in management, auditing, and/or disclosures. But the sad truth is that many of these mistakes could have been found and fixed in the boards. The board's role is to supervise and govern. If the board does not have the resources themselves, they must make sure that an impartial third-party service provider does it.

This book explores why corporate boards fail and also give ideas on how to fix them. The author reveals ten specific failings of the typical boardroom model and proven advice to get boards back on track. Some of the boardroom ills he diagnoses include:

WEAK BOARD LEADERSHIP
Problem: The board oversees (at the same time it is led by) the CEO. Too many boards accept that the CEO runs the board meetings - without being sufficiently challenged by the chairman or the others. In Europe, we divide the roles of the chairman and the CEO. But that doesn't mean that we don't have our share of scandals, since a strong CEO also can dictate solutions in practice by forcing rubberstamp decision processes in the boardroom
Solution: Make some of the board meetings (or part of them) without the executive officers. Keep the meeting's chairman role and the CEO role separate.

POOR DATA (and even worse delivery).
Problem: Some boards receive too little or too much information - or just plain bad information.
Solution: Too much data: Require a one-page-summary from the CEO summarizing the top three to five issues of the information pack. Too little data: Require more and better information before a decision is made.

INCOMPETENT BOARD MEMBERS
Problem: Inadequate time, resources, and expertise for the job.
Solution: Better board member recruiting process as well as annual performance evaluation of individual board members.

DIRECTOR ISOLATION: Don't-ask-don't-tell model.
Problem: Outside board members are often amazingly out of touch with the staff, shareholders, and the firm for which they bear ultimate legal responsibility. This is a key weakness.
Solution: Professional directors build their own informal networks with e.g. finance, investor relations, sales, marketing, production, or research. If the director then also talks to a few of the firm's external stakeholders such as shareholders, customers, and suppliers, then it will provide an even stronger background to base any board decisions.
I have personally experienced board members who on their own have spent full days visiting head offices and production facilities and included individual talks with non-executive managers. It's very inspiring for the managers. It also gives the board member a much better feel for the views and competences of the broader management team.

Management in corporations has over the last 50 years become more professional and universal due to formal education. However, governance of the same corporations is still stuck at the level of anecdotes and myths. This book helps to unveil many of the important issues of making corporate governance work in practice.

Ralph Ward is the author of several fine books on improving corporate boards and publishes an online newsletter. You may want to check his (unsophisticated) website on www.BoardroomInsider.com.

One of the best things of this book may be that Ward is letting many experienced board members comment on the issues and provide their advice for the reader. It makes the book much more extensive in scope and exciting to read.

Having just started on being a board member myself, I already recognise many of the issues that this book raises. Having spent 15 years in businesses on preparing board material, I unfortunately also feel guilty of some of his very relevant points on (too much) information.

Peter Leerskov,
MSc in International Business (Marketing & Management) and Graduate Diploma in E-business