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Synopsis
Since the late 1990s, a subtle, subversive element has been at work within the staid confines of the Hollywood dream factory. Young filmmakers like Spike Jonze, Wes Anderson, Michel Gondry, David O. Russell, Richard Linklater, and Sofia Coppola rode in on the coattails of the independent film movement that blossomed in the early 1990s and have managed to wage an aesthetic campaign against imaginative cowardice of all persuasions, much like their artistic forebears - the so-called Movie Brats Coppola, Scorsese, De Palma, Altman, and Ashby among others - did in the 1970s.But their true pedigree can be traced back to the cinematic provocateurs of the Nouvelle Vague (Truffaut, Goddard, Chabrol, Rohmer, Rivette, et al), who in the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s liberated screens around the world with a series of films that challenged our assumptions of what the medium could offer and how stories could be told - all of them snapping with style as much as they delivered on ideas.Highly idiosyncratic yet intricately realised, accessible yet willing to overthrow the constraints of formal storytelling, surreal yet always grounded in human emotions, this new breed of American film captures the angst of its characters and the times in which we live, but with a wryness, imagination, earnestness, irony and stylish wit that makes the slide into existential despair a little more amusing than it should be. This book analyzss and traces the origins of the pivotal films and directors in this undeclared war on the mundane.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Mr Bojangles
Format:Paperback
this is a good read, well informed and educated accouts of this generation of filmakers.
It is also short book - more a summary of each of the filmakers careers (so far) mentioned in the synopsis than an expose on the subject, is there a subject?
In the same way Peter Biskind's Easy Riders Raging Bulls did for the 70s film and that generation, I think there is room for a book to do the same for this 'American New Wave' generation that really delves into the psychology of the age but this is not quite it and I haven't come accross one yet..
It is also short book - more a summary of each of the filmakers careers (so far) mentioned in the synopsis than an expose on the subject, is there a subject?
In the same way Peter Biskind's Easy Riders Raging Bulls did for the 70s film and that generation, I think there is room for a book to do the same for this 'American New Wave' generation that really delves into the psychology of the age but this is not quite it and I haven't come accross one yet..
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars
2 reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining, well written overview
25 Oct 2008
By David Hiltscher
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
The book exceeded my expectations. It's a brilliant overview of a small group of film artists that may or may not be connected through their language of film. The author gives just the right amount of historical background, delving shortly and poignantly into 60's French cinema and 70's New Hollywood to argue why exactly the re-emergence of semi-independent cinema in the US can rightly be called a New Wave.
The selection of films he focusses on is dead-on. In the limited space of the book he grabs the knowledgeable reader with just the right amount of trivia, background information and analysis. Fervently he argues for the quality of certain overlooked films, mainly Wes Anderson's, all the while providing the reader with a new understanding for beloved modern classics.
Filmmakers mainly dealt with in this book are Richard Linklater, David O. Russell, Wes Anderson, Spike Jonze, Sofia Coppola, Michel Gondry and of course Charlie Kaufman, with smaller parts reserved for the likes of Roman Coppola, Richard Kelly, Steven Soderbergh and PT Anderson. The latter are examined each through one of the movies, while the former group gets both an analysis of their bibliographic and filmographic resumé as well as detailed and individual run-downs of their major cinematic achievements.
Only downside for me was that this extraordinarily entertaining read comes at only 170 pages. But with extensive lists of resources about related books and movies, I will certainly re-visit this book in the future.
If you're interested in the workings of cinema and have a soft spot for some of the aforementioned filmmakers, you owe it to yourself to get this book.
The selection of films he focusses on is dead-on. In the limited space of the book he grabs the knowledgeable reader with just the right amount of trivia, background information and analysis. Fervently he argues for the quality of certain overlooked films, mainly Wes Anderson's, all the while providing the reader with a new understanding for beloved modern classics.
Filmmakers mainly dealt with in this book are Richard Linklater, David O. Russell, Wes Anderson, Spike Jonze, Sofia Coppola, Michel Gondry and of course Charlie Kaufman, with smaller parts reserved for the likes of Roman Coppola, Richard Kelly, Steven Soderbergh and PT Anderson. The latter are examined each through one of the movies, while the former group gets both an analysis of their bibliographic and filmographic resumé as well as detailed and individual run-downs of their major cinematic achievements.
Only downside for me was that this extraordinarily entertaining read comes at only 170 pages. But with extensive lists of resources about related books and movies, I will certainly re-visit this book in the future.
If you're interested in the workings of cinema and have a soft spot for some of the aforementioned filmmakers, you owe it to yourself to get this book.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great reintroduction
31 Dec 2012
By Timothy Hallinan
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Derek Hill makes a great case for a band of 1990s filmmakers, working in America, being a sort of new New Wave, but even more importantly, making intelligent, witty, sometimes deeply moving films.
It was especially rewarding to me to be reintroduced to the earlier Wes Anderson and Richard Linklater movies, many of which I either didn't see the first time around, or rediscovered with enormous pleasure thanks to the book. One of the things I like best is the format, which is essentially an essay, part lowdown and part theory, about each director, followed by genuinely thoughtful and insightful views of each of the films that director (or writer) had made by the time the book came out in 2008, meaning Hill probably finished writing it in 2007. I wish he'd do an update-- even as an ebook--and give us similarly thoughtful reactions to the films these people have made since then.
Terrific book, and a GREAT guide to movies you may not have seen or might like to revisit.
It was especially rewarding to me to be reintroduced to the earlier Wes Anderson and Richard Linklater movies, many of which I either didn't see the first time around, or rediscovered with enormous pleasure thanks to the book. One of the things I like best is the format, which is essentially an essay, part lowdown and part theory, about each director, followed by genuinely thoughtful and insightful views of each of the films that director (or writer) had made by the time the book came out in 2008, meaning Hill probably finished writing it in 2007. I wish he'd do an update-- even as an ebook--and give us similarly thoughtful reactions to the films these people have made since then.
Terrific book, and a GREAT guide to movies you may not have seen or might like to revisit.
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