Contemporary Directors' Cinema

"This book refreshes the argument about the role of the director through the practice of evaluative criticism, discussing twelve recent films, including Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1999), Les Chansons d'amour (Christophe Honorâe, 2007), and Winter Sleep (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2014). This book argues that in each of its twelve case studies, the director's work is central to the achievement of economy, unity, eloquence, subtlety, depth, vigour, vividness and intensity. By offering critical readings of twelve films from mainstream film culture, Contemporary Directors' Cinema demonstrates that cinema remains vital as a directors' medium"--

Jacob Leigh teaches Film Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London. UK. He teaches the work of a wide range of filmmakers, including Howard Hawks, Eric Rohmer, Claude Chabrol, Fritz Lang, Alfred Hitchcock, George Cukor, F.W. Murnau, John Ford, Max Ophuls, Carl Dreyer, Yasujiro Ozu and Roberto Rossellini. His research is focussed on the following areas: film interpretation, film style, film storytelling and film aesthetics. He wrote his PhD and first book on realism and politics in Ken Loach's films and since then he has written about Terrence Malick, Eric Rohmer and Claude Chabrol.