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André Bazin's What Is Cinema? (volumes I and II) have been classics of film studies for as long as they've been available and are considered the gold standard in the field of film criticism. Although Bazin made no films, his name has been one of the most important in French cinema since World War II. He was co-founder of the influential Cahiers du Cinéma, which under his leadership became one of the world's most distinguished publications. Championing the films of Jean Renoir (who show more contributed a short foreword to Volume I), Orson Welles, and Roberto Rossellini, he became the protégé of Fran©ʹois Truffaut, who honors him touchingly in his foreword to Volume II. This new edition includes graceful forewords to each volume by Bazin scholar and biographer Dudley Andrew, who reconsiders Bazin and his place in contemporary film study. The essays themselves are erudite but always accessible, intellectual, and stimulating. As Renoir puts it, the essays of Bazin "will survive even if the cinema does not." show lessTags
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Member Reviews
The best aspect of this collection is the evident pleasure Bazin takes in viewing and analyzing the cinema. His delight in the medium shines through in the essays and he never fails to recognize the enjoyment to be found in movie watching. Particular highlights are the essays "The Myth of Total Cinema" "The Virtues and Limitations of Montage" and "Charlie Chaplin" (a lovely reflection on Chaplin's brilliance). That said, many of Bazin's concerns and examples are pretty dated and may not be of much use to the modern reader (I consider myself fairly well-watched but was unfamiliar with many of the films he mentions). Luckily, Bazin does manage to impart a degree of universality to many of his arguments, even if they derive from specific show more (and now fairly obscure) films. Worth reading. show less
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ThingScore 75
Respected critics generally express the consensus tastes of the most cultivated stratum of society and get reputations for “objectivity” by being so dull and unoriginal that they can be congratulated for not allowing their “personal” tastes to affect their judgments...
Unlike the best American movie critics— Vachel Lindsay, James Agee, Robert Warshow — who can be read for the show more beauty of their perceptiveness, who can be read as writers, Bazin must be read for the beauty of his argument. He has a genius for argument — not necessarily for the conclusions but for the processes. His great gift is that the argument does not stay on the page: the reader fights back, sometimes finding that Bazin has anticipated his objections and covered them in the next paragraph. He gets involved in a running battle that is an extraordinary, elating experience... “What is Cinema?” joins that small company of books on movies that do not exploit interest in movies but intensify it. show less
Unlike the best American movie critics— Vachel Lindsay, James Agee, Robert Warshow — who can be read for the show more beauty of their perceptiveness, who can be read as writers, Bazin must be read for the beauty of his argument. He has a genius for argument — not necessarily for the conclusions but for the processes. His great gift is that the argument does not stay on the page: the reader fights back, sometimes finding that Bazin has anticipated his objections and covered them in the next paragraph. He gets involved in a running battle that is an extraordinary, elating experience... “What is Cinema?” joins that small company of books on movies that do not exploit interest in movies but intensify it. show less
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Film
114 works; 1 member
Author Information
32+ Works 1,439 Members
Series
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Is contained in
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- What Is Cinema? Vol. 1: Ontology and Language
- Original title
- Qu'est-ce que le cinéma ? 1. Ontologie et langage
- Original publication date
- 1958
- Publisher's editor*
- Éditions du Cerf
- Original language*
- Francese
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 791.43 — Arts & recreation Recreation, sports, and performing arts Public performances Motion pictures, radio, television, podcasting Motion pictures
- LCC
- PN1994 .B3513 — Language and Literature Literature (General) Literature (General) Drama Motion pictures
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 461
- Popularity
- 66,153
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.91)
- Languages
- English, French, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 7
