Bordwell is not well known outside academic film circles, but he should be; perhaps this volume will give him the exposure...
One of our most inventive film scholars, Bordwell (Film Studies/Univ. of Wisconsin) takes on one of the most overthetop cinemas.
For 20 years, the Hong Kong film industry was one of the world's most commercially successful and prolific. Recently Western critics have begun to recognize it as possessing a level of creativity almost equal to its financial success—despite its deep roots in genre traditions aimed at a mass audience. Bordwell examines how these elements interact in Hong Kong films to produce an art that is at the same time both popular and significant. He outlines the history, economics, and production techniques of the Hong Kong studios, particularly focussing on the genres that are most closely associated with their success (the kungfu film, the swordplay epic, the gangster film, and the urban comedy). These historical chapters alternate with analyses of specific directors, with particular attention paid not only to such wellknown filmmakers as John Woo and Wong KarWai but also to some figures worthy of greater attention in the West (such as King Hu). Bordwell is clearly enchanted by the sheer physicality of Hong Kong film: its remarkable ability to convey ``filmic emotion at its most sheerly physical'' through a combination of razorsharp editing styles, incredibly precise staging of action sequences, and the sheer virtuosity of performers like Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. By rooting his analyses detailed readings of the film texts, he is able to convey—as much as mere words can—how this audaciously visceral cinema works. Ironically, Bordwell's decision to join the growing throng of authors with books on Hong Kong film comes at a time when the handover of the former British colony to the China, coupled with the economic shakeouts in East Asia, may well have doomed the island's film industry.
Bordwell is not well known outside academic film circles, but he should be; perhaps this volume will give him the exposure he deserves.Pub Date: May 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-674-00213-X
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harvard Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2000
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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