Synopses & Reviews
Rites of Realism shifts the discussion of cinematic realism away from the usual focus on verisimilitude and faithfulness of record toward a notion of andquot;performative realism,andquot; a realism that does not simply represent a given reality but enacts actual social tensions. These essays by a range of film scholars propose stimulating new approaches to the critical evaluation of modern realist films and such referential genres as reenactment, historical film, adaptation, portrait film, and documentary.
and#9;By providing close readings of classic and contemporary works, Rites of Realism signals the need to return to a focus on films as the main innovators of realist representation. The collection is inspired by Andrandeacute; Bazinandrsquo;s theories on filmandrsquo;s inherent heterogeneity and unique ability to register contingency (the singular, one-time event). This volume features two new translations: of Bazinandrsquo;s seminal essay andquot;Death Every Afternoonandquot; and Serge Daneyandrsquo;s essay reinterpreting Bazinandrsquo;s defense of the long shot as a way to set the stage for a clash or risky confrontation between man and animal. These pieces evince key concernsandmdash;particularly the link between cinematic realism and contingencyandmdash;that the other essays explore further.
Among the topics addressed are the provocative mimesis of Luis Buandntilde;uelandrsquo;s Land Without Bread; the adaptation of trial documents in Carl Dreyerandrsquo;s Passion of Joan of Arc; the use of the tableaux vivant by Wim Wenders and Peter Greenaway; and Pier Paolo Pasoliniandrsquo;s strategies of analogy in his transposition of The Gospel According to St. Matthew from Palestine to southern Italy. Essays consider the work of filmmakers including Michelangelo Antonioni, Maya Deren, Mike Leigh, Cesare Zavattini, Zhang Yuan, and Abbas Kiarostami.
Contributors: Paul Arthur, Andrandeacute; Bazin, Mark A. Cohen, Serge Daney, Mary Ann Doane, James Lastra, Ivone Margulies, Abe Mark Normes, Brigitte Peucker, Richard Porton, Philip Rosen, Catherine Russell, James Schamus, Noa Steimatsky, Xiaobing Tang
and#9;
Review
andldquo;These exciting and varied essays probe the relations between cinematic realism and representations of the bodyandmdash;above all the body as a guarantor (or not) of a link between images and the real. As in the best collections, the essays present distinctive points-of-view, yet they cohere around a compelling through-line, offering illumination and insight beyond just the sum of their parts.andrdquo;andmdash;Leo Charney, author of Empty Moments: Cinema, Modernity, and Drift
Review
andquot;Ivone Margulies's Rites of Realism is a stunning reconsideration of one of the most important and often underestimated issues in film studiesandmdash;the complex nature of cinematic realism. Orchestrating a wide range of critical debates, this collection ranges brilliantly across decades, cultures, and individual films to remind us that realism at the movies has never been a more interesting and demanding topic. I highly recommend it for any serious student of film.andquot;andmdash;Timothy Corrigan, author of A Cinema without Walls: Movies and Culture after Vietnam
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. [325]-332) and index.
Synopsis
A collection of essays rethinking and reviving realism as a focus for film theory, particularly emphasizing the relation of the genre to issues of the body.
About the Author
Ivone Margulies is Associate Professor in the Film and Media Studies Department at Hunter College. She is the author of Nothing Happens: Chantal Akermanandrsquo;s Hyperrealist Everyday.
Table of Contents
Bodies too much / Ivone Margulies -- Death every afternoon / Andrâe Bazin -- The screen of fantasy (Bazin and animals) / Serge Daney -- History of image, image of history: subject and ontology in Bazin / Philip Rosen -- The object of theory / Mary Ann Doane -- No longer absolute: portraiture in American avant-garde and documentary films of the sixties / Paul Arthur -- In search of the real city: cinematic representations of Beijing and the politics of vision / Xiaobing Tang -- Private reality: Hara Kazuo's films / Abâe Mark Nornes -- Mike Leigh's modernist realism / Richard Porton -- Why is this absurd picture here? Ethnology/heterology/Buänuel / James F. Lastra -- Exemplary bodies: reenactment in Love in the city, Sons, and Close up / Ivone Margulies -- Pasolini on Terra sacta: towards a theology of film / Noa Steimatsky -- Ecstatic ethnography: Maya Deren and the filming of possession rituals / Catherine Russell -- Filmic tableau vivant: Vermeer, intermediality, and the real / Brigitte Peucker -- Dreyer's textual realism / James Schamus.