Goodbye Cinema, Hello Cinephilia: Film Culture in Transition
The esteemed film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum has brought global cinema to American audiences for the last four decades. His incisive writings on individual filmmakers define film culture as a diverse and ever-evolving practice, unpredictable yet subject to analyses just as diversified as his own discriminating tastes. For Rosenbaum, there is no high or low cinema, only more interesting or less interesting films, and the pieces collected here, from an appreciation of Marilyn Monroe's...
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The esteemed film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum has brought global cinema to American audiences for the last four decades. His incisive writings on individual filmmakers define film culture as a diverse and ever-evolving practice, unpredictable yet subject to analyses just as diversified as his own discriminating tastes. For Rosenbaum, there is no high or low cinema, only more interesting or less interesting films, and the pieces collected here, from an appreciation of Marilyn Monroe’s intelligence to a classic discussion on and with Jean-Luc Godard, amply testify to his broad intellect and multi-faceted talent. Goodbye Cinema, Hello Cinephilia gathers together over fifty examples of Rosenbaum’s criticism from the past four decades, each of which demonstrates his passion for the way we view movies, as well as how we write about them. Charting our changing concerns with the interconnected issues that surround video, DVDs, the Internet, and new media, the writings collected here also highlight Rosenbaum’s polemics concerning the digital age. From the rediscovery and recirculation of classic films, to the social and aesthetic impact of technological changes, Rosenbaum doesn’t disappoint in assembling a magisterial cast of little-known filmmakers as well as the familiar faces and iconic names that have helped to define our era. As we move into this new decade of moviegoing—one in which Hollywood will continue to feel the shockwaves of the digital age—Jonathan Rosenbaum remains a valuable guide. Goodbye Cinema, Hello Cinephilia is a consummate collection of his work, not simply for fans of this seminal critic, but for all those open to the wide variety of films he embraces and helps us to elucidate. Times (UK) “One of the finest film critics currently active.”—Times (UK)
Introduction ixI Position PapersGoodbye Cinema, Hello Cinephilia 3In Defense of Spoilers 10Potential Perils of the Director's Cut 12Southern Movies, Actual and Fanciful: A Personal Survey 25À la recherche de Luc Moullet 25Propositions 31Bushwhacked Cinema 44What Dope Does to Movies 51Fever Dreams in Bologna: II Cinema Ritrovato 58From Playtime to The World: The Expansion and Depletion of Space within Global Economies 62II Actors, Actors-Writers-Directors, FilmmakersKim Novak as Midwestern Independent 71Marilyn Monroe's Brains 75A Free Man: White Hunter, Black Heart 78Bit Actors 82Rediscovering Charlie Chaplin 86Second Thoughts on Stroheim 97Sweet and Sour: Lubitsch and Wilder in Old Hollywood 114Ritwik Ghatak: Reinventing the Cinema 123Introducing Pere Portabella 127Portabella and Continuity 131Two Neglected Filmmakers: Eduardo de Gregorio and Sara Driver 136Vietnam in Fragments: William Klein in 1967-68: A Radical Reevaluation 141Movie Heaven: Defending Your Life 146The World as a Circus: Tati's Parade 152The Sun Also Sets: The Films of Nagisa Oshima 160III FilmsInside the Vault [on Spione] 169Family Plot 177"The Doddering Relics of a Lost Cause": John Ford's The Sun Shines Bright 181Prisoners of War: Bitter Victory 192Art of Darkenss: Wichita 199Cinema of the Future: Still Lives: The Films of Pedro Costa 204A Few Eruptions in the House of Lava 207Unsatisfied Men: Beau travail 213Viridiana on DVD 219Doing the California Split 224Mise en Scène as Miracle in Dreyer's Ordet 229David Holzman's Diary/My Girlfriend's Wedding: Historical Artifacts of the Past and Present 240Two Early Long-Take Climaxes: The Magnificent Ambersons and A Star Is Born 245Wrinkles in Time: Alone. Life Wastes Andy Hardy 246Martha: Fassbinder's Uneasy Testament 251India Matri Buhmi 256Radical Humanism and the Coexistence of Film and Poetry in The House Is Black 260WR, Sex, and the Art of Radical Juxtaposition 266Revisiting The Godfather 271IV CriticismFilm Writing on the Web: Some Personal Reflections 277Goodbye, Susan, Goodbye: Sontag and Movies 285Daney in English: A Letter to Trafic 292Trailer for Godard's Histoire(s) du cinéma 305Moullet retrouvé (2006/2009) 320The Farber Mystery 325The American Cinema Revisited 331Raymond Durgnat 337Surviving the Sixties 351L.A. Existential 361Index 369
\ Times (UK)“One of the finest film critics currently active.”\ \ \ \ \ \ Booklist “Among the best is Rosenbaum.”\ \ \ \ Roger Ebert“Jonathan Rosenbaum is a great film critic and I’ve learned so much over the years from his wise writing.”\ \ \ \ \ \ The Critierion Collection's Book Notes\ - Criterion Collection\ “Jonathan Rosenbaum has long been known for forging a path for cinephilia in a changing landscape, and for cautioning against hand-wringing and nay-saying about new technologies among older generations of movie lovers. Goodbye Cinema Hello Cinephilia, Rosenbaum’s invaluable new collection of writing about film, takes those positions as one of its organizing principles—in keeping with which it includes blog posts as well as more conventionally published pieces, all bringing to bear his vast store of knowledge and dexterity in deploying it, as well as his customary social and political engagement.”\ \ \ \ \ Globe and Mail"One of the bellwether critics in film reviewing. . . . Rosenbaum offers arguments to make you to think again."\ \ \ \ \ \ Front Table"An important contribution to the discussion not just of film, but of all of film culture."\ \ \ \ \ \ GreenCine Daily"Rosenbaum's argument is simpler and more convincing: when you're looking at a film that has survived decades, has many substantive admirers and nothing in it speaks to you, you should probably do some reading on it, or at least watch the extras. You may learn how quickly your gut reaction can change."\ \ \ \ \ The Onion's A/V Club"Ceaselessly prolific, frighteningly well-informed on seemingly every detail of film history, and well ahead of the technological curve. . . . The handsomely curated Goodbye Cinema is a dense collection of Rosenbaum’s most fervent causes."\ \ \ \ \ Film Comment“There’s plenty of evidence on display of what has made Rosenbaum an essential critic for generations of readers.”\ \ \ \ \ \ Globe & MailOne of the bellwether critics in film reviewing. . . . Rosenbaum offers arguments to make you to think again.\ \ \ \ \ The Critierion Collection's Book NotesJonathan Rosenbaum has long been known for forging a path for cinephilia in a changing landscape, and for cautioning against hand-wringing and nay-saying about new technologies among older generations of movie lovers. Goodbye Cinema Hello Cinephilia, Rosenbaum’s invaluable new collection of writing about film, takes those positions as one of its organizing principles—in keeping with which it includes blog posts as well as more conventionally published pieces, all bringing to bear his vast store of knowledge and dexterity in deploying it, as well as his customary social and political engagement.”\ — Criterion Collection\ \ \ \ \ \ Janet Bergstrom“This is a major new collection of essays from a preeminent American film critic who has evolved a unique voice over decades of writing that is extraordinarily well-informed, full of insights and unforeseen connections, and deeply, profoundly international. Jonathan Rosenbaum’s intellectual and political engagement, his insistence in going beyond the US-centrism of most American critics, and his extraordinarily wide-ranging cinephilia represent near-heroic work by an invaluable critic, and are all fully on display here. This excellent collection, much like its author, crosses many boundaries with conviction.”\ \ \
