The Essay Film: From Montaigne, After MarkerWhy have certain kinds of documentary and non-narrative films emerged as the most interesting, exciting, and provocative movies made in the last twenty years? Ranging from the films of Ross McElwee (Bright Leaves) and Agnes Varda (The Gleaners and I) to those of Abbas Kiarostami (Close Up) and Ari Folman (Waltz with Bashir), such films have intrigued viewers who at the same time have struggled to categorize them. Sometimes described as personal documentaries or diary films, these eclectic works are, rather, best understood as cinematic variations on the essay. So argues Tim Corrigan in this stimulating and necessary new book. Since Michel de Montaigne, essays have been seen as a lively literary category, and yet--despite the work of pioneers like Chris Marker--seldom discussed as a cinematic tradition. The Essay Film, offering a thoughtful account of the long rapport between literature and film as well as novel interpretations and theoretical models, provides the ideas that will change this. |
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activity adaptation aesthetic avant-garde Bazin becomes Blue Bright Leaves Cahiers du cinéma camera central Chris Marker close-up coherent commentary conceptual contemporary create crisis critical cultural death Deleuze Derek Jarman describes dialogue diary documentary documentary films dramatic encounter engage epistolary essay film essayistic essayistic subject everyday excursion experiential explores expression Farocki fiction FIGURE filmmakers Five Obstructions footage found footage frame Gleaners Godard Harun Farocki Herzog home movie human ideas intellectual intertitle interview kind Koreans language Letter from Siberia Leuchter Listen to Britain literary Marker McElwee memory Montaigne movement narrative painting perspective photo-essay photographic political portrait positions postwar practice Press public experience reenactments reflection representational Robinson Robinson in Space Sabzian self-portrait sequence shifting short film shot social space spatial specifically streets television temporal thinking thought tion tradition travelogue Univ Varda verbal viewer visual voice voice-over Waltz with Bashir Westerbork writing York