This post is part of the Write Tribe Festivals of Words-3 and today's prompt is Book Review.
I love films, not only watching it but also reading and knowing it. I can read anything that has Cinema as the background. This is what attracted me to MK Raghavendra's "Director's Cut: 50 Major Filmmakers of the Modern Era."
Director's Cut is a take on the film making styles of the greatest directors of the modern era. The book starts with an introduction section,which explains the pattern using which Mr. Raghavendra chose the best 50 directors among all the great filmmakers we have ever watched.
The Pattern is actually very intelligent, he chose 1960 as a cut-off date as he believes the french new wave, which is one of the most influential movements in cinema commenced around this time and cinema became Modern only during this era.
Since the title of the book contains the term Modern Era; we shouldn't have any grudges with the Author for not including legendary filmmakers like Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, Charles Chaplin and Orson Welles as their greatest works was witnessed before the 1960s. Instead he put the spotlight on directors like Luis Buñuel, Werner Herzog and Béla Tarr.
There are 50 chapters in this book, each dedicated to a director. Beneath the name of the director, there is a tagline defining the basic theme they have followed in almost all of their films. For example, below Steven Spielberg, you will see the words "Family Matters."
Spielberg always portrayed family as a valuable entity in most of his films like there was a family that struggled together in "Jurassic Park", hundreds of Polish families were saved in "Schindler's List", a mother and son was reunited in "Saving Private Ryan". A Mecha [Robot] was given the love of a mother in "Artificial Intelligence" and a man returns to his family in The "Terminal."
MK Raghavendra also included legendary directors Akira Kurosawa, Ingmar Bergman, Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, David Lynch, David Lean, Satyajit Ray and many other legends. It's good to see inclusion of acclaimed regional film directors from India such as Adoor Gopalakrishnan from the Malayalam Cinema and Ritwik Ghatak from the Bengali Film Industry.
Some disappointment you may have because it leaves modern directors Christopher Nolan, Paul Thomas Anderson and Alfonso Cuaron. This book also ignores legends like Francis Ford Coppola and Roman Polanski but still the 50 that it talks about are legends and you will love understanding the approach with which they make films.
-Amrit Rukhaiyaar
This review is also associated with Indiblogger and HarperCollins.
I am an avid movie goer and I think this book sounds like a great idea. I always wonder about the story behind the making of the film.
ReplyDeletewell this is a great book, not really defines the making of a film but how different directors have different approaches to filmmaking
DeleteThanks. One clarification is that these are those I believe to be the most influential and not the 'greatest'. The individual essays therefore provide assessments. I have tried to lay out a basis for selection in the introduction but it is still impossible for a selection like this to satisfy all readers.
ReplyDeleteAlright.. good to have you here Sir. Yes, I do agree, no list have ever satisfied all readers. As for me, I am quite satisfied with the selection except for the fact that you left Sergio Leone. You left Coppola as well but you did clarify about it. Nevertheless, this is pretty much a comprehensive list.
ReplyDeleteI need to check it soon considering that I swear by movies...it will always remain my first and ever lasting love. Beautifully reviewed:)
ReplyDeletethis is a really great book, worth reading if you love cinema... MK Raghavendra introduced some directors to me through this book :)
DeleteLooks like a nice book that falls in a different league..
ReplyDeletethanks for stopping by Manjulika... yes this is a great book, try and read it sometimes :)
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