Author: André Bazin File Type: pdf Andre Bazins What Is Cinema? (volumes I and II) have been classics of film studies for as long as theyve been available and are considered the gold standard in the field of film criticism. Although Bazin made no films, his name has been one of the most important in French cinema since World War II. He was co-founder of the influential Cahiers du Cinema, which under his leadership became one of the worlds most distinguished publications. Championing the films of Jean Renoir (who contributed a short foreword to Volume I), Orson Welles, and Roberto Rossellini, he became the protege of Francois Truffaut, who honors him touchingly in his forword to Volume II. This new edition includes graceful forewords to each volume by Bazin scholar and biographer Dudley Andrew, who reconsiders Bazin and his place in contemporary film study. The essays themselves are erudite but always accessible, intellectual, and stimulating. As Renoir puts it, the essays of Bazin will survive even if the cinema does not.**Amazon.com ReviewAndre Bazin is a great film critic and essayist, arguably the best France ever produced. His impact on the international cinema was monumental and continues to be felt today. He popularized the auteur theory, the idea that directors were the authors of their films. He was one of the first to take American B movie genres, such as Westerns and films noir, seriously. He waxed eloquently on the Italian neorealist movement of the late 40s and 50s and inspired the New Wave of French directors, many of whom wrote for the journal he founded and edited, the legendary Cahiers du Cinema. Francois Truffaut dedicated The 400 Blows to him. Bazin had a keen eye for cinematic detail and technique, but was also one of the cinemas great sociologists, psychologists, and historians. Volume two of What Is Cinema? collects some of his most characteristic writings. It contains essays on the aesthetic of neorealism individual neorealist films by Vittorio De Sica, Roberto Rossellini, and Federico Fellini the brilliance of Charlie Chaplin and the mythmaking qualities of the Western. The volume ends with an appreciation of the great Jean Gabin and three essays on sex in the movies, including the delightful Entomology of the Pin-Up Girl. Bazins essays are short, smoothly written, revelatory, and filled with remarkable insights and a profound love for his subject. Review Although Andre Bazin died shortly before the onset of what we now regard as the modern cinema, our understanding of this cinema wouldnt be the same without him. Hes also one of the most scrupulous humanists and polemicists weve had, on a par with George Orwell, and these essays map out the busy highways were all still navigating. - Jonathan Rosenbaum, film critic for the Chicago Reader

Author: Nancy L. Green File Type: pdf Transnationalism means many things to many people, from crossing physical borders to crossing intellectual ones. The Limits of Transnationalism reassesses the overly optimistic narratives often associated with this malleable term, revealing both the metaphorical and very real obstacles for transnational mobility. Nancy L. Green begins her wide-ranging examination with the story of Frank Gueydan, an early twentieth-century American convicted of manufacturing fake wine in France who complained bitterly that he was neither able to get a fair trial there nor to enlist the help of US officials. Gueydans predicament opens the door for a series of inquiries into the past twenty-five years of transnational scholarship, raising questions about the weaknesses of global networks and the slippery nature of citizenship ties for those who try to live transnational lives. The Limits of Transnationalism serves as a cogent reminder of this topics complexity, calling for greater attention to be paid to the many bumps in the road. **