My Affair with Art House Cinema - Essays and Reviews

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. Table of Contents Introduction Curtain Raisers 1. On Changing One’s Mind About a Movie 2. How I Look at Movies Feature Films 3. Maren Ade: The Forest for the Trees 4. Chantal Akerman: No Home Movie 5. Antonioni’s Le Amiche: Another Look 6. Ingmar Bergman: Scenes from a Marriage and Saraband 7. Raymond Bernard: Wooden Crosses and Les Misérables 8. Robert Bresson: Mouchette 9. Lino Broca: Insiang 10. John Cassavetes: The Killing of a Chinese Bookie 11. Claude Chabrol: The Swindle 12. George Clooney: Good Night, and Good Luck 13. David Cronenberg: eXistenZ 14. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne 15. Arnaud Desplechin: A Christmas Tale 16. Carl Dreyer: Gertrud 17. Lena Dunham: Tiny Furniture 18. Paul Fejos: Lonesome 19. Emannuel Finkiel: Voyages 20. John Ford: The Sun Shines Bright 21. Jean-Luc Godard: Breathless and Band of Outsiders 22. Hong Sang-soo 23. Hou Hsiao-hsien 24. Otar Iosseliani 25. Elia Kazan 26. Abbas Kiarostami: Through the Olive Trees and Taste of Cherry 27. Hirokazu Kore-eda 28. Akira Kurosawa: Rashomon 29. Alberto Lattuada: Mafioso 30. Richard Linklater: Before Midnight 31. Harold Lloyd: Speedy 32. Ernst Lubitsch 33. Sidney Lumet: Long Day’s Journey Into Night 34. David Lynch: Mulholland Drive 35. Dušan Makavejev: The Wolf and the Teddy Bear 36. Kenji Mizoguchi: Ugetsu and Utamaro and His Five Women 37. Mikio Naruse: When a Woman Ascends the Stairs 38. Yasujirō Ozu: Late Spring 39. Christian Petzold: Barbara 40. Maurice Pialat: Naked Childhood, Van Gogh, and Le Garçu 41. Alain Resnais: Middle and Late Resnais 42. Dino Risi: Il Sorpasso 43. Éric Rohmer: La Collectionneuse, The Marquise of O, and Le Rayon Vert 44. Raúl Ruiz: Time Regained 45. Alexander Sokurov 46. Paolo Sorrentino: The Great Beauty 47. Jean-Marie Straub Not Reconciled 48. Andrei Tarkovsky: Solaris 49. François Truffaut Intermission: Documentaries and Essay Films 50. Frederick Wiseman: Composing an American Epic 51. Alain Resnais: Night and Fog 52. Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin: Chronicle of a Summer 53. Alan Berliner 54. Robert Gardner: Dead Birds 55. Sam Green and Bill Spiegel: The Weather Underground 56. Jafar Panahi: This Is Not a Film 57. Documentary Splendors and Errors 58. Ross McElwee: Bright Leaves 59. Mark Rappaport’s Essay Films 60. Marcel Ophuls 61. City Essay Films Film Critics 62. The Making of Manny Farber 63. Roger Ebert: Life Itself 64. Stanley Kauffmann 65. Pauline Kael: A Biography 66. Stanley Cavell 67. James Harvey 68. Jonathan Rosenbaum 69. Jonathan Baumbach Exit Music: A Few Last Thoughts 70. Repertory Movie Theaters, Ravishing Revivals Conclusion: The Faith of a Cineaste Notes