Phillip Lopate

My Affair with Art House Cinema, by Phillip Lopate, is a wonderful book for those who enjoy viewing and thinking about cinema, whether art house or not.

My only warning for readers is that I don't think this is a great book for those without some interest in art house films. His discussions often reference other such films and while you don't need to be familiar with every film you will get more from the essays if you understand what certain directors, and certain time periods, brought to the table.

I have only seen about half of the films he discusses yet gained a lot from reading each essay, namely because he is talking as much about what makes a movie work as he is about whether it worked in that particular film. This is something you can take with you when you assess films in the future.

For the films I have seen and/or studied I gained new perspectives from which to appreciate them. This is true whether I was fond of the film or not. "Liking" a film is only part of the idea. I can appreciate and even be interested in rewatching a movie I don't care for if I believe it has something to offer me. That is, for me, what sets "art house" cinema apart. By trying new things or mixing and matching accepted techniques these films can help move all of filmmaking forward. That is why so many older films that were considered art films have now become popular, they ushered in new ideas in filmmaking and now are seen as groundbreaking rather than simply experimental.

Yes, there are a lot of non-English films here. Part of that is certainly Lopate's own preferences, this is a subjective list after all. But it isn't that "foreign language" films are part of anyone's definition of art house films. But so many English language films have been made to appeal to the masses, especially over the past twenty-five years or so, that new ideas have often had to be introduced in environments that are more receptive to challenging the viewer rather than simply entertain the viewer. Many US filmmakers don't remember that viewers can be both challenged and entertained.

While even readers who aren't heavily into art films can appreciate this volume, I think this is ideal for those who love examining and debating film, whether in a popular or an academic community. This is also a great source of potential films you'll want to view, or re-view.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (more)

I recommend this book as an up to date (2005) meditation on and description of the Manhattan shoreline. Mr. Lopate has some intelligent insights as he circumnavigates the island on foot. He is an acute observer and critic of the city's architecture and its design; he is in no way hostile to all and sundry, but notes where buildings and parks are in sympathy with their surrounds, and where the mark has been missed.
The abandonment of shipping and commerce on the Hudson and East Rivers has been the major discontinuity for the Manhattan perimeter. The rethinking of how the littoral should be repurposed and redesigned is a work in progress. Lopate's hope is for greater access to the water's edge, for so long unavailable for so much of its length.
Along his walk, which is not without its interruptions, the writer (who is primarily an essayist, not an architect) provides much incidental background to that rich history of the island and its hustling maritime legacy. Among other subjects, he discusses teredo worms, the power brokers, especially Robert Moses, the Fulton Fish Market, the Washington and Brooklyn Bridges, Captain Kidd, and public housing (with some praise it should added).
If you're an NYC citizen, read it and you might get interested further in your great city. If not, you'll still be better informed about it.… (more)

Literature written for and about New York is organized in chronological order in Writing New York: a Literary Anthology. In the diary of Philip Hone you will read about a child abandoned on his doorstep. Henry David Thoreau goes wandering around Staten Island looking for nature. You will read the day-long observations of Nathaniel Parker Willis. Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener has a place. Fanny Fern, also known as Sara Payson Willis, contributes as the first woman newspaper columnist in the United States. You'll learn that O. Henry started writing fiction in prison. James Huneker will tell you about the New York public urban parks: Battery, Corlears, Gramercy, Bronx, and Central, to name a few. Charles Reznikoff would walk twenty miles a day and by default find interesting material for his poetry. E.B. White chimes in. William Carlos Williams was called the "bard of Rutherford, New Jersey", but he wrote about New York City with such eloquence. You will read a fraction of a biography of LaGuardia by Robert Moses and hear from Henry Miller, William Burroughs, Tom Wolfe, Joan Didion, Ralph Ellison, and so many more.… (more)