A sudden flicker of light : a revisionist history of movies / David Thomson.
| Author/creator | Thomson, David, 1941- author. |
| Format | Book |
| Edition | First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition. |
| Publication | New York, NY : Simon & Schuster, 2026. |
| Copyright Date | ©2026 |
| Description | x, 356 pages ; 24 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Fade away -- A couple on the beach -- The sea is moving -- Who's in charge? -- Like lightning -- Going to Death Valley -- Our metropolis -- Attention must be paid -- Wait a minute -- Cutting could be cuter -- Vagrants in the limelight -- Style and nature -- The scorpion and the frog -- Hitler's hand -- A cobra and the rats -- Fatale -- Voyeur beware -- The waves -- Ain't life grand? -- "I'm with you" -- Our lap dance -- The big boys -- Look -- "Quiet, piggy" -- Fade out. |
| Abstract | "David Thomson has been called 'the greatest living writer on the movies.' Here is a career capstone of sorts--a one-volume history of film and screens as illuminating and provocative as his classic The New Biographical Dictionary of Film. In tracing the progress of cinema, from the Lumière Brothers to the Coens, Thomson glories in the great movies but admits to increasing unease over what the medium has done to us--promoting fantasy, misleading models of sexual identity, the cult of authority, power, and happy endings. This revisionist history is as alert to technology and business as it is to art and fun in tracing our pursuit of the lifelike instead of life. By turns trenchant, lyrical, and comic, Thomson uncovers our addiction to voyeurism and villainy, and a habit of passivity that has betrayed our political and cultural identity. A survey that reaches from Metropolis to Rear Window to Anora, this will redirect ideas about film everywhere"-- Book jacket flap. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 329-345) and index. |
| Genre/form | Informational works. |
| Genre/form | Film criticism. |
| Genre/form | Critiques cinématographiques. |
| ISBN | 9781668205730 (hardcover) |
| ISBN | 1668205734 (hardcover) |
| ISBN | (ebook) |
| ISBN | (ebook) |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joyner | New Books | PN1993.5 .A1 T48 2026 | ✔ Available | Want This? |