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| Beyond Popcorn: A Critic's Guide to Looking at Films |
| Robert Glatzer |
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Cinema / How-to
182 Pages
ISBN: 0-910055-70-X
Paper: $14.95
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In his engaging book Beyond Popcorn: A Critic's Guide to Looking at Films, Robert Glatzer offers a detailed and insightful look behind the scenes of filmmaking. Written for movie lovers, in a witty and knowledgeable style, this is a basic guide to understanding film. Glatzer deals with movies as an art form, not just as entertainment, and gives the reader valuable insights into just what makes one film better than another.
The book contains chapters on how a director gives direction , styles of comedy, musicals, and even what all the credits mean. Glatzer analyzes a number of important films, helping readers understand the key elements of writing, directing and acting. This book will make readers better critics of the films they see. There's even a detailed list of what Glatzer calls "all the films you have to see before you die."
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| Robert Glatzer is a film critic and screenwriter in Spokane, Washington, where he hosts the weekly NPR show "Movies 101." A former film director in New York and Hollywood, his films have won awards at festivals around the world. He has taught film at New York's School of Visual Arts and at Eastern Washington University. |
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| An Excerpt from Beyond Popcorn |
THE GREATEST FILM EVER MADE
The Godfather (Part I, 1972) - Picture yourself watching this movie for the first time, on the night it opened, back in 1972. Maybe you read Mario Puzo's book, most likely you didn't. So you don't know very much about what you're going to see. And what will you see?
Well, you won't see a whodunit, or a mystery, or a crime and punishment film. There isn't a cops-and-robbers chase anywhere in it. There isn't even a hero, much less a superhero. The closest we come is the Godfather himself, played by Marlon Brando, and he's the head of one of New York's five Mafia families, who makes his money from prostitution, gambling, and extortion and doesn't have a moment's regret about it.
Maybe you could say his son Michael, played by Al Pacino, is a hero, since he's brilliant and dedicated to the success of the family. But most heroes have some moral compass in them, and you would have a hard time finding one in Michael. A critic would call him a picaresque hero, meaning you like him, maybe even love him, but he's a bastard.
So what is it that makes this the greatest film of all time? Three things:
1. The characters are brilliantly drawn. They're real, they're fascinating, they're unpredictable yet always true to their nature.
2. The plot is built on the interplay of those very natures, one against another, just as real life is. We in the audience can come back again and again, even though we know what's going to happen, because we see so much of ourselves and our own lives in what's on the screen. It's what happens with any great work of art. We may know every note of Handel's "Messiah," but that doesn't keep us from wanting to hear it again and again.
3. The elements of the film itself: Coppola's direction, the dialogue by Coppola and Puzo, Gordon Willis's photography and lighting, Nino Rota's music, and the acting by a group who fit themselves to their roles instead of the other way around. The film is long - almost three hours - and has not even one wasted moment in it. There's not an unnecessary scene, not one bad line of dialogue. Take even a minute away and The Godfather would be lessened. |
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| To learn more about Robert Glatzer, visit his website: www.movies101.com |
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