David Thomson, one of the great living authorities on the movies, is the author of
The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, now in its fifth edition. His books include a biography of
Nicole Kidman, a biography of Orson Welles, and
The Whole Equation: A History of Hollywood. His latest works are the acclaimed
Have You Seen...?: A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films and
The Big Screen: The Story of the Movies.
One of
Thomson's five favorite books about film, as told to
The Daily Beast:
Notes on the Cinematographer
by Robert Bresson
[H]ere’s one you may not know: Robert Bresson’s Notes on the Cinematographer (1975). It’s very slim, comprised of a gathering together of proverbs or rules about how to make a movie. Don’t read it too fast. You need to think about every passage. But the book is full of wisdom and a strange, straight-faced humor so that when you’re done you will be ready to see some Bresson movies—A Man Escaped, Mouchette, Pickpocket…
Read about
another book on the list.
See
David Thomson's five best books about making movies.
--Marshal Zeringue
Nicole Kidman, a biography of Orson Welles, and The Whole Equation: A History of Hollywood. His latest works are the acclaimed Have You Seen...?: A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films and The Big Screen: The Story of the Movies.
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