The Brothers Grim: The Films of Ethan and Joel Coen Review

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(More customer reviews)I didn't used to be a fan of the Coen brothers' films, but I appreciated them, as well as good film in general, a lot more after reading this book.
The amount of insight author Rowell has into the Coens' films is amazing. As I read through each chapter, I was stunned by how much in the films I had "missed." Rowell's analysis reveals the numerous layers of meaning that are embodied in the films. She covers subjects as diverse as politics, religion and philosophy, art and music, and race and class. She illuminates the context of the Coens' works in the history of film, and points out the numerous allusions to and borrowings from previous films, including their own. I was truly impressed by the scope of the analysis and the thoroughness of the research conducted.
All this is written in a lively style and well organized format that can engage anyone ranging from a casual moviegoer to a scholar of film. Rowell's clever word play throughout the text add to the delight.
I recommend viewing a film first, and then reading the relevant chapter in the book to be wowed by all the things you missed. Then watch the film again!

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The Brothers Grim examines the inner workings of the Coens' body of work, discussing a movie in terms of its primary themes, social and political contexts, narrative techniques, influences, relationship to their other films, and the Coens' referential modus operandi that retreads cinema, literature, history, philosophy, and art to amplify their films' themes.

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That Bowling Alley on the Tiber: Tales of a Director Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is a collection of ideas, sketches, plots and "cuts" told by the modern master - Michelangelo Antonioni. Some of the novellas in the book (4 of them) made it into his latest movie "Beyond the Clouds"; most of the work is still to be realized on film. Reading this collection helped me to understand the Great Teatrology of the Antonioni's work - L'Aventurra, La Notte, Eclipse and Red Desert much better. Director is researching the same themes of loneliness, impossibility of love and connections in the modern world full of dehumanizing technology. Landscapes and architecture, subtle variations of mood, breeze and movement ... and sadness.

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In this evocative book, Michelangelo Antonioni, one of the world's greatest directors, gives us a rare glimpse inside the creative mind."My thoughts are always about film," he says, and here he has written thirty-three richly suggestive pieces elaborating ideas for films as yet unproduced.Beautifully translated by William Arrowsmith, That Bowling Alley on the Tiber reveals a master of cinema in a new role--that of an accomplished and sensitive writer."Plangent, haunting and refreshingly tough-minded...[Antonioni] is asking the questions that every serious film maker will have to ask if the cinema is ever to prove as hospitable to ideas as it is to the great god Action."--The New York Times Book Review"These writings, like his films, pair luminous landscapes with ethereal tales....These are clearly working notes, and they are as interesting for their analysis of the director's methods as for their literary content."--Library Journal About the Author and Translator: Michelangelo Antonioni has gained an international following with such films as L'Avventura, La notte, Blow-up and The Passenger. William Arrowsmith is Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at Emory University. ·Winner of a major Italian literary award

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