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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 9, 2025
As his first book, it is already evident how broad his knowledge is, though sometimes it's a bit out of focus. I think his ability of piecing together different sources has gotten only better throughout the years, as exemplified by his recent essays.
While most of the essays have not left much of an impression, the whole book strikes me as a personal manifesto of the powerful nature of art. It tries to break the distance between his audience and so-called high art, by constructing the humanist link that all such classic works share. I would be glad to know where to turn to after watching those films or reading the books he reviewed. Using such a disjointed way of writing can be a hit or miss sometimes. However, I still find his connection astute when linking Kafka, Borges, and Eco through imaginary creatures. His essays on Bergman, Tarkovsky, Malick, and Ebert all inherited that same humanist concern for the world. His essay on Citizen Kane is also surpisingly insightful for his exposition on "Rosebud".
There is a great passage from Ebert that I think most succintly encaspulates how we should view art, whether literature or movies, which is to understand the many ways a real human being acts and lives. "As the Greeks understood tragedy, it exists not to bury us in death and dismay, but to help us to deal with it, to accept it as a part of life, to learn about our own humanity from it".
While most of the essays have not left much of an impression, the whole book strikes me as a personal manifesto of the powerful nature of art. It tries to break the distance between his audience and so-called high art, by constructing the humanist link that all such classic works share. I would be glad to know where to turn to after watching those films or reading the books he reviewed. Using such a disjointed way of writing can be a hit or miss sometimes. However, I still find his connection astute when linking Kafka, Borges, and Eco through imaginary creatures. His essays on Bergman, Tarkovsky, Malick, and Ebert all inherited that same humanist concern for the world. His essay on Citizen Kane is also surpisingly insightful for his exposition on "Rosebud".
There is a great passage from Ebert that I think most succintly encaspulates how we should view art, whether literature or movies, which is to understand the many ways a real human being acts and lives. "As the Greeks understood tragedy, it exists not to bury us in death and dismay, but to help us to deal with it, to accept it as a part of life, to learn about our own humanity from it".
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews