Film Analysis: A Casebook offers an accessible introduction to film analysis through close readings of 25 historically significant films from around the world.
- Features a geographically diverse selection of films and directors, with representation from 20 different countries
- Covers many of the central films treated in today’s cinema courses, and the issues raised about them
- Provides students with practical models to help them improve their own writing and analytical skills
- Supplemented with film credits, images, and bibliographies; director filmographies, a glossary of film terms, and suggested topics for writing and discussion
Table of Contents:
Preface vii Chapter 1. F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922, Germany) 1
Chapter 2. Jean Renoir’s La Grande Illusion (1937, France) 12
Chapter 3. Carl-Theodor Dreyer’s Day of Wrath (1943, Denmark) 23
Chapter 4. Vittorio De Sica’s Shoeshine (1946, Italy) 34
Chapter 5. Jacques Tati’s Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (1953, France) 42
Chapter 6. Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront (1954, USA) 52
Chapter 7. Agnès Varda’s La Pointe Courte (1954, France) 60
Chapter 8. Jack Clayton’s Room at the Top (1959, England) 69
Chapter 9. Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura (1960, Italy) 80
Chapter 10. Ingmar Bergman’s Winter Light (1962, Sweden) 91
Chapter 11. Jiøí Menzel’s Closely Watched Trains (1966, Czechoslovakia) 98
Chapter 12. Mike Nichols’ The Graduate (1967, USA) 108
Chapter 13. Fred Schepisi’s The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978, Australia) 120
Chapter 14. Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979, Germany) 131
Chapter 15. Shohei Imamura’s Vengeance Is Mine (1979, Japan) 140
Chapter 16. Idrissa Ouédraogo’s Yaaba (1989, Burkina Faso) 151
Chapter 17. Aki Kaurismäki’s The Match Factory Girl (1989, Finland) 158
Chapter 18. Zhang Yimou’s Ju Dou (1990, China) 166
Chapter 19. Sergei Bodrov’s Prisoner of the Mountains (1996, Russia) 174
Chapter 20. Abbas Kiarostami’s A Taste of Cherry (1997, Iran) 186
Chapter 21. Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter (1997, Canada) 197
Chapter 22. Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne’s The Son (2002, Belgium) 209
Chapter 23. Carlos Reygadas’ Battle in Heaven (2005, Mexico) 217
Chapter 24. Corneliu Porumboiu’s Police, Adjective (2009, Romania) 226
Chapter 25. Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011, Turkey) 236
Film Credits and Directors’ Filmographies 248
Topics for Writing and Discussion 269
Glossary of Film Terms 275
Bibliography: Film Analysis 281
Index 284
