A Cinema of Loneliness: Penn, Kubrick, Scorsese, Spielberg, Altman (Oxford Paperbacks) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The "New Wave" style of American film of the 1960s and 70s--characterized by exciting, narrative innovation and sometimes adventurous reworkings of older film genres, as well as images of solitude and explosive violence--has come to an end. Erasing virtually all traces of 60s and 70s experimentation, American film in the 1980s has returned with a vengeance to a more linear, conventional style.

In this newly revised edition of The Cinema of Loneliness, Robert Phillip Kolker continues and expands his inquiry into the phenomenon of cinematic representations of culture by updating the chapters on the directors discussed in the first edition--Arthur Penn, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, and Robert Altman--to include their latest work, and by substituting for the chapter on Francis Ford Coppola a chapter on the cultural, political, and ideological formations of eighties films and the work of Steven Spielberg. He incorporates new discussions to include the more recent films, such as Arthur Penn's Four Friends (1983) and Target (1985); Stanley Kubrick's direction of The Shining (1980) and Full Metal Jacket (1987); Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1983), After Hours (1985), and The Color of Money (1986); and Robert Altman's A Perfect Couple (1979), Popeye (1980), Streamers (1983), A Fool for Love (1985), and Beyond Therapy (1987).

Placing the films of Penn, Kubrick, Scorsese, Spielberg, and Altman in an ideological perspective, Kolker both illuminates their relationship to one another and to larger currents in our culture, and emphasizes the statements their films make about American society.

About the Author

About the Author: Robert Phillip Kolker is Professor of Film Studies in the Department of Communication Arts and Theatre at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2 edition (June 9, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195053907
• ISBN-13: 978-0195053906
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,570,206 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A film book of rare insight and intelligence........, July 25, 1999

By	Brooke276 (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews

Worth reading for the Kubrick chapter alone, this book considers the work of our finest directors and contrasts them with the conservatism and anti-intellectualism of 1980s cinema. Moreover, the author discusses community, alienation, dehumanization, and loneliness, all from a fresh, unpretentious standpoint.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books of film criticism I've ever read, February 26, 2000

By	John Elias (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

A paradigm of intelligent film criticism. Kolker's astute and subtle formal analysis of the films puts many other so-called critics to shame, and his discussions of the political implications of cinematic form and style are excellent. It is a serious book about movies, and his arguments and insights need to be thought about and struggled with- they are not a meant to be easily digested.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not pleasant to read, July 24, 1999

By	Ian Rutherford "EazyIanish" (CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I had a hard time staying interested when reading this book. The chapters are too long and dense. This book would be best used as a reference, not for enjoyment and learning.