David Bordwell stands as one of the most influential film scholars in the United States, recognized for his in-depth analyses of filmmaking styles and periods. His work, often in collaboration with Kristin Thompson, delves into a profound understanding of cinematic language and its historical context. Bordwell's scholarship particularly explores classical Hollywood cinema and the cinematographic traditions of various cultures. His impact extends far beyond academia, having trained a generation of cinema studies professors and seen his books translated globally.
David Bordwell reveals how crime fiction, plays, and films made unconventional narrative mainstream. A sweeping, kaleidoscopic account written in a lively, conversational style, Perplexing Plots offers an ambitious new understanding of how popular culture has evolved over the past century.
Introduction: the way Hollywood told it -- The frenzy of five fat years; Interlude: Spring 1940: lessons from our town
Pauline Kael, Andrew Sarris, and Roger Ebert were three of America's most revered and widely read film critics, more famous than many of the movies they wrote about. But their remarkable contributions to the burgeoning American film criticism of the 1960s and beyond were deeply influenced by four earlier critics: Otis Ferguson, James Agee, Manny Farber, and Parker Tyler. Film scholar and critic David Bordwell restores to a wider audience the work of Ferguson, Agee, Farber, and Tyler, critics he calls the 'Rhapsodes' for the passionate and deliberately offbeat nature of their vernacular prose.
"Arriving fifty years after Ebert published his first film review in 1967, this second edition of Awake in the Dark collects Ebert's essential writings. Featuring new Top Ten Lists and reviews of the years' finest films through 2012, this edition allows both fans and film buffs to bask in the best of an extraordinary lifetime's work."--Provided by publisher.
Focusing on the historical poetics of cinema, the author delves into how films are crafted within specific historical contexts to evoke particular effects. Drawing on twenty-five years of research, the analysis explores the intricate relationship between filmmaking practices and the cultural, social, and technological influences that shape them, offering valuable insights for film studies.
Hollywood moviemaking is one of the constants of American life, but how much has it changed since the glory days of the big studios? This book argues that the principles of visual storytelling created in the studio era are alive and well.
Staging and style -- Feuillade, or, Storytelling -- Mizoguchi, or, Modulation -- Angelopoulos, or, Melancholy -- Hou, or, Constraints -- Staging and stylistics.
Film Art is often assigned to college students taking their first film class. Authors David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson do not follow the traditional method of teaching film art through a close analysis of individual films. Instead, they provide an overview of the major issues students confront when they watch movies. In clear, straightforward prose, the authors describe and dissect the complexities of filmmaking, film narrative, film form, and film technique. This book serves as a fine introduction not only to the field of film studies, but also to the theories and concerns of two of the most important scholars in that field.
This definitive study of Hong Kong cinema examines the work of directors such as Tsui Hark, John Woo, Ringo Lam, Johnnie To, King Hu, and Wong Kar Wai.
Bordwell scrutinizes the theories of style launched by various film historians and celebrates a century of cinema. The author examines the contributions of many directors and shows how film scholars have explained stylistic continuity and change.