|
|
Article: The Magic Hour: Film at Fin de Siecle.(Book Review)
- Article from:
- Cineaste
- Article date:
- September 22, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Cineaste Publishers, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
by J. Hoberman. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2003. 272 pp., illus. Hardcover: $69.50 and Paperback: $19.95.
The Magic Hour is haunted by death in cinema. Rather than mourning the medium's supposed mortality (a subject addressed in several of its essays), the book proposes that its continued life depends on critics adopting a more historically conscious and energetic role. It suggests that cinema and criticism are interwoven at all levels: Hollywood films need publicity, and alternative "counterprogramming" needs activist criticism to find an audience. Hoberman's unpretentious erudition and enthusiasm for all sorts of films--with equally ecstatic ...