Two efforts at uniting art and revolution. The first, an extended interview with French director Jean-Luc Godard and his associate Jean Gorin who discuss the goals of their recently constituted film group; the second, a film script ("written to be read not filmed") of the Soledad Brothers prison break and the life and death of Jonathan Jackson. Neither venture succeeds beyond stylized oddity. Godard, intent on demystifying his work and his status as an important "new wave" director, offhandedly debunks his early films, including La Chinoise and Weekend, as hopelessly bourgeois ventures and fumbles toward an inchoate Marxist-Leninist cinema which will include "paying everyone equally, in order to end the hierarchy." Various revolutionary attempts — British Sounds, East Wind, and a work-in-progress on the al-Fateh (none currently accessible to American movie-goers) — are deemed partially successful efforts to "organize ourselves in a new way" but what it all boils down to in terms of financing, filming, and editing remains highly abstract. This Is It: The Marin Shoot-Out plays on the Yippie notion of revolution as theater ("it looked like a prison break movie") and features a Dostoevsky-inspired Detective who reads Malraux's Man's Fate while trying to decipher the significance of the event. O.K. as an experimental work-shop exercise but not for the average film-goer seeking entertainment. Actors recalcitrant, camera twitchy, story-line dim.
Pub Date: April 14, 1972
ISBN: 0876900740
Page Count: -
Publisher: Outerbridge & Lazard
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1972
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
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
