Directors Books

Visually a delight...an inspiration....a journey into the sometimes forbidden....taboo...HOW FUN!

This text offers the real-world perspective needed by new music educators everywhere. It is filled with the practical advice and procedureal considerations new teachers crave, infused with a positive philosophy about teaching, and founded in good practice. Like Spevacek and Pagel, the book turns the everyday challeneges of teaching choral music to today's youth into the rewards that last a lifetime for students and teachers alike. It is inspiring and useful reading for music education majors, new teachers, music teacher educators, and experienced teachers looking for a new perspective.

David Bordwell, Professor of Film Studies at the University of Wisconsin--Madison, has produced as complete and insightful a guide to the cinemagraphic artistry of Sergei Eisenstein as any film lover could hope for. In addition to covering the director's life and "rehabilitation" to rightful prominence years after his death, Dr. Bordwell spends measured time dissecting and describing Eisenstein's theories of montage and "Social Realist" cinema in a most understandable and fluent way. For anyone who has marveled at the dramatic power of the "Odessa Steps" sequence in "The Battleship Potempkin" or the heroic sweep of "Alexander Nevsky," this book will take you behind the scenes and reveal how these masterworks were made, and why. Very readable, and filled with hundreds of illustrations from films both completed and unmade, "The Cinema of Eisenstein" will satisfy the serious movie-goer and the student of Soviet cultural history. A compendious bibliography and suggested reading list is included. Comrades, get this book!

. . . says MacReady in John Carpenter's The Thing. This is the exact opposite attitude of the military hero in Howard Hawks's original version, The Thing from Another World. In Carpenter's movies you can't trust the church, the government, the economic system, literature, the weather, or even your own children not to betray you.

I've been a Carpenter cultist since I first saw Halloween, so I was surprised at how much new there is in this collection of essays on Carpenter's films.

There are articles on Carpenter's music, his partnership with Kurt Russell, his early movies, his "siege movies" (Carpenter has admitted that many of his films are Howard Hawks's Rio Bravo dressed up with gangsters or Martians or a futuristic setting), Lovecraft's influence, and Carpenter's apparent attitudes toward men and women. There's also a short interview with Carpenter (interesting if you are just starting to read about his filmmaking, but it doesn't go too deep).

A few things in particular struck me. First (I alluded to this at the start of this review) is how unlike Howard Hawks's movies John Carpenter's films really are. Carpenter says he wishes he could work in the old Hollywood studio system the way his heroes like Hawks did.

Carpenter may admire Howard Hawks's work ethic and his ability to switch from genre to genre, but Carpenter's films tell a different story.

In a Howard Hawks movie the heroes are often the military or the government working together to protect Us from Them (The Thing from Another World). But in a John Carpenter movie the government IS the threat to the innocent (Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Starman, They Live) or at least it's incompetent leadership incapable of protecting us even when it's honestly trying (the sheriff in Halloween, the scientists in The Thing).

Another interesting thing is how much like David Cronenberg Carpenter is in one respect: the control he demands over every aspect of his films. Among the "new wave horror directors" (including George Romero, Tobe Hooper, Wes Craven, Joe Dante, and others) Carpenter is usually compared to directors like George Romero - - in other words the meat movie directors. But Carpenter uses suspense, not shock. (That's not a criticism of Romero - - his style is perfect for his story of the Decline and Fall of the American Empire.)

Carpenter is also like Hitchcock. He uses our unease to play us like a musical instrument, the way Hitchcock bragged of playing his audiences. (The current issue of Cineaste, vol. XXXII, no. 1, has a fascinating article by Jack Sullivan on Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann's music, especially for Psycho.)

That brings me to just a couple of complaints about this book. The only real flaw was the tendency of some authors to write in academic jargon. (I wish every critic with a Ph.D. could write as entertainingly as the authors in the Open Court Press series, Popular Culture and Philosophy.) A few essayists also keep referring to the same works by cultural/film critics such as Julia Kristeva and Robin Wood, more it seems to show they are masters of their field than because it adds to their arguments.

Also, I wish some of the essayists had mentioned the recently deceased Debra Hill, Carpenter's producing partner and writer of Halloween and The Fog. Debra Hill was born in the real Haddonfield and gave the world Michael Myers. Without Debra Hill there would have been no John Carpenter.

I debated whether to rate this book four or five stars, but besides presenting new ideas about Carpenter's movies, it was a lot of fun to read. If you like Carpenter's films, you'll enjoy this book.

A good range of essays about Richardson's key films. Most of the essays are easily read (not overly academic)--the work with TOM JONES is especially solid. Recommended as an overview of a talented man's career

This book reviews the life and work of German director Werner Herzog. It is clearly written and engaging. I think that both serious Herzog scholars and casual fans would find the book interesting. For instance, he are some of the author's piquant observations about Herzog's film Grizly Man.

"There are similarities between Herzog and Treadwell (and not only in the fact that both men changed their last names)...[Treadwell] also partakes of that same unusual combination of improvisation and staging that characterizes Herzog's documentaries.

This superb study is a fascinating read which clearly analyzes the films of the remarkable German filmmaker. It would behoove any fan of Wenders films to read this exceptional and engrossing book.

After seeing WINGS OF DESIRE, I became a big Wim Wenders fan. Back then, in the early 90's, before the internet and before Amazon, I had to rely on my local library to find out what I could.

Luckily, they carried this book, FROM PARIS FRANCE TO PARIS TEXAS. This is an excellent introduction to Wenders and his films. It describes his life and his films, from his early short films up until he went into production on WINGS (the credits are listed in the book, but it was written before its release). At the time I read it, I was unable to find any of his films, so her descriptions were the next best thing. Having seen his films now, she did each of the films justice.

Geiste doesn't go overboard analyzing each film, she just gives a basic overview of each film, what they are about, how it plays on certain recurring themes in Wenders work. There are also many photos from the films listed.

There have been many books written about Wenders since. This still stands as one of my favorites. An excellent introduction to his work.

It unfortunately appears to be out of print. Be careful when buying from online sellers as there are a couple different "The Cinema of Wim Wenders" books released. Make sure it is the "From Paris France to Paris Texas" version. I've had the incorrect book shipped to me in the past and finally was able to get the right one only recently from an Amazon seller, 15 years after first reading it.

A fine volume of essays and interviews on Wenders. The first book to successfully compile a broad collection of interpretive essays on the different themes in his cinematic output. Equally fascinating for a reader are the essays written by Wenders himself, who comes across as insightful, articulate and intelligent. This book is an excellent introductory text to his work, but simultaneously provides plenty of material for those already familiar with Wenders oeuvre. This title comes highly recommended.

A dense quiet view, turns the world upside down and gives it a shake. Please read this book slowly.