David Bordwell has amassed an impressive amount of film writings and his knowledge of the subject is never more evident than it is here. In two parts, composed modestly of four chapters each, Bordwell traces the changes in how films are made by evaluated their stories and styles. He theorizes that the way films are made now are not in fact that much different than older films. With ample references to hundreds of film examples he traces similarities and differences between the films of yesterday and today.
Bordwell’s thoughtful and impressive ideas are worth more than one view and are articulately supported by the reels of film history. It’s puzzling how he has so much time to watch as many films as he does but still write about them. The book was published in 2006 and includes an excellent and informative appendix giving a Hollywood timeline from the year 1960 until 2004. I have encountered a few other Bordwell books thus far in my education and always find them thorough, somewhat daunting, and incontrovertibly helpful.
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