My Affair with Art House Cinema: Essays and Reviews

Title: My Affair with Art House Cinema: Essays and Reviews
Author: Phillip Lopate
I9781720167662: 1708478
ISBN: 9780231216395
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2024
Binding: Paperback
Language: English
Number of Pages: 416
Section: Performing Arts | Film | History & Criticism
Condition Note: Excellent, unmarked copy with little wear and tight binding. We ship in recyclable American-made mailers. 100% money-back guarantee on all orders.
Publisher Description:

Finalist, 2025 PEN / Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay, PEN America

Phillip Lopate fell hard for the movies as an adolescent. As he matured into an acclaimed critic and essayist, his infatuation deepened into a lifelong passion. My Affair with Art House Cinema presents Lopate's selected essays and reviews from the last quarter century, inviting readers to experience films he found exhilarating, tantalizing, and beguiling--and sometimes disappointing or frustrating--through his keen eyes.

In an essayist's sinuous prose style, Lopate captures the formal mastery, artistic imagination, and emotional intensity of art house essentials like Yasujirō Ozu's Late Spring, David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, and Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris, as well as works by contemporary filmmakers such as Maren Ade, Hong Sang-soo, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Christian Petzold, Paolo Sorrentino, and Jafar Panahi. Essays explore Chantal Akerman's rigorous honesty, Ingmar Bergman's intimacy, Abbas Kiarostami's playfulness, Kenji Mizoguchi's visual style, and Frederick Wiseman's vision of the human condition. Lopate also reflects on the work of fellow critics, including Roger Ebert, Pauline Kael, and Jonathan Rosenbaum. His considered, at times contrarian critiques and celebrations will inspire readers to watch or rewatch these films. Above all, this book showcases Lopate's passionate advocacy for not only particular films and directors but also the joys and value of a filmgoing culture.