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Essential Cinema: On the Necessity of Film Canons
by
Jonathan Rosenbaum (Goodreads Author)
In his astute and deeply informed film reviews and essays, Jonathan Rosenbaum regularly provides new and brilliant insights into the cinema as art, entertainment, and commerce. Guided by a personal canon of great films, Rosenbaum sees, in the ongoing hostility toward the idea of a canon shared by many within the field of film studies, a missed opportunity both to shape the...more
Hardcover, 472 pages
Published
March 30th 2004
by The Johns Hopkins University Press
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Rosenbaum proves himself once again to be among the most knowledgeable and eloquent film critics in print today. Unlike some of his other volumes such as "Movie Wars," Rosenbaum doesn't discuss the grim realities of corporate Hollywood so much (although he does comment on filmmakers who have been treated unfairly by the system), as he evaluates directors and films which he believes are of historical and artistic importance, such as Orson Welles, Fritz Lang, Eric Von Stroheim, Yasujiro Ozu, and S...more
A great book for cinephiles who want to expand their perspective of international cinema. Great articles about American filmmakers such as the Coen brothers, Stanley Kubrick and Orson Welles, but also directors from all over the world. Rosenbaum even offers a personal "film canon" at the back of the book.
I sometimes completely disagree with him, but not in the way that I often find myself disagreeing with film critics. His analyses are thorough and well-thought out, the writing is passionate and he doesn't take that glib and dismissive tone that's so often found in mainstream criticism. So, when disagreements do arise, it's more a difference of opinion rather than "this guy's an idiot." And his essays make for a good antidote to, say, David Denby or Mick LaSalle. Aside from the introduction and...more
The title and description are a bit misleading, as the book is mostly a collection of Rosenbaum's reviews and essays, with only an introduction and list of films at the end which relate directly to "film cannons." The essays are generally illuminating, and cover a wide range of films and filmmakers.
He's not too fond of Herzog, but he's still my favorite film critic.
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