Customer Reviews

Bunuel

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Poor book. The author doesn't understand Spanish nor French - very strange when writing Buñuel's biography. His sketch of B's personality is very poor.

"Bunuel" by John Baxter has received some bad press from some of the reviewers here, but this is not a bad book at all. It is probably the second best biographical book about Luis Bunuel right after, of course, "My Last Sigh." Bunuel remains one of the giants of the cinema, a director who's films remain timeless and evocative, seductive and visceral, and sometimes funny. Baxter is not a bad author and elevates his subject to some great intellectual levels, exploring the depth of Bunuel's work and the philosophies, desires, madness and obsessions that spin madly at the center of this man's story. And yet, Baxter reveals that Bunuel was not some lunatic with a camera, he had surprisingly compassionate, funny human aspects, which is the case with most geniuses. Bunuel's life here plays like a great novel, filled with interesting characters from Bunuel's life like the painter Salvador Dali and the poet Federico Garcia Lorca. There is interesting information here, sometimes voyeuristic when we learn Lorca apparently tried to seduce Dali. The book is also a good examination of the films, because to understand Bunuel's mind, one must look at his masterpieces. There are fascinating moments when the book goes into the Surrealist movement and Bunuel's first two surreal films made with Dali, "Un Chien Andalou" (with the immortal image of a razor slicing across a woman's eye-ball) and "L'Age d'Or" (which has touches of De Sade). We follow Bunuel on his exile to Mexico where he makes the classic "Los Olvidados" which left an impact in many directors including, we learn here, Roman Polanski. Bunuel's work is a rich collage of visceral, seductive emotions and images as seen in works like "Viridiana" and "Belle De Jour" (the most famous erotic film ever) and the book makes good use of exploring all of the art. And yet, the human stories are also entertaining. A surprising thing that comes out is the love story between Bunuel and his wife Jeanne Rucar (who wrote a book about their marriage titled "Woman Without A Piano" which I wish someone would put back in print!) which is as involving as the stories of Bunuel's movies. There are comic moments, as when Mexican director Arturo Ripstein calls on Bunuel after seeing "Nazarin" and tells him he wants to be a director just like him. Bunuel gets anrgy, admits him and screens "Un Chien Andalou" and comments, "THIS is what I do." Ripstein, of course, is one of Mexico's greatest directors. "Bunuel" is fascinating, enjoyable, entertaining and sometimes crazy. It manages to capture a man and his art and dissect the wonderful faults and positives of his genius.

Baxter's book is readable, but inadequately researched. Baxter is innocent of Spanish, and this means that many of the documents related to Bunuel are...well, Spanish, to him. It also leads to a number of egregious errors and, in general, to suspect judgements and thin interpretations. A number of questions need to be addressed in a biography of Bunuel, but Baxter either treats them superficially or ignores them. A definitive--or even semi-definitive, if such a thing exists-- biography of Bunuel is yet to come.

First the good news. There are many interesting anecdotes related to the life of Luis Bunuel in this book. The common denominator throughout the book, mingled between ancedotes, is a portrait of man who was obsessive , compassionate, bizarre to the point of ecentric but driven to achieve. Now the bad news, the anecdotes bog down the biography and muddle the facts concerning this most interesting film maker. It is interesting on one level, learning the various pecularities of this man, his associations etc. but somewhere in the reading one asks oneself who am I really reading about in this book? Maybe the problem in trying to write about a complex man, who like many of us takes contradictory turns in a lifetime of experiences , it eventually becomes confusing to the point where one asks , is this the same guy I was reading about earlier? Is it an enjoyable read? I would have to say yes. Is it complete, a definitive statement about one of the giants of Spanish language cinema? Hardly , but if you thirst for knowledge it will quench your thirst much like lemonade, only temporarily. In the end you will come away slightly frustrated and want to know more. The problem is that book has not been written yet. John Baxter, try has he did by researching interviews, speaking with family , friends and colloboraters creates a book that like Bunuel is all over the map, which results in an unsettling feeling overall. I for one did like the book and read it as a "second " book, a light read that was enjoyable a chapter or two at a time. It did end rather abruptly but intrigued me enough to "save" the last chapter for a few days before I finished the book. I also liked the photogrphs but wish there were more. All the peripheral information aside it is nonetheless an interesting read, a springboard if you will for a better understanding of some of the films he made.

I picked this up for a few dollars at the bookstore and was invigorated to begin reading it but it turns out that it was written by a dilettante with too much time on his hands. It starts off as a vapid pseudo-bio but the author never real gives us any authentic substance in the 300+ pages. He throws out names as if we are supposed to know defunct abstractions and pretentious writers and he skips the years 1932-1945 for some reason. About half way through the read he really let me down because he goes on to say one of the most incongruous and nonsensical things I have ever heard of, that Franco of Spain "was not really a fascist". Obviously the guy has no understanding of precepts relating to Spain or Europe and the ending is a complete waste, considering he devoted one page to Bunuel's death.

I love reading about Luis Bunuel. "Bunuel" has a lot of great information, much of it I didn't know before. The, however, book loses it's wheels at some point. I believe this occurs when Baxter goes too far to define Surrealism. I found myself yearning for more details of Bunuel's life, but I kept reading about other surrealists and the mood of that era. He seems to speak down to the reader. The tone is very pretentious. I can't imagine Bunuel would have even like Mr. Baxter. As beautiful and twisted as Bunuel's life was, and as enjoyable as it was to read these things, Baxter's coldness found a way to shine through. Read it for the richness of Bunuel's life. The subject definitely saves this book.