Goodbye Cinema, Hello Cinephilia
Film Culture in Transition
The esteemed film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum has brought global cinema to American audiences for the last four decades. His incisive writings on individual filmmakers define film culture as a diverse and ever-evolving practice, unpredictable yet subject to analyses just as diversified as his own discriminating tastes. For Rosenbaum, there is no high or low cinema, only more interesting or less interesting films, and the pieces collected here, from an appreciation of Marilyn Monroe’s intelligence to a classic discussion on and with Jean-Luc Godard, amply testify to his broad intellect and multi-faceted talent. Goodbye Cinema, Hello Cinephilia gathers together over fifty examples of Rosenbaum’s criticism from the past four decades, each of which demonstrates his passion for the way we view movies, as well as how we write about them. Charting our changing concerns with the interconnected issues that surround video, DVDs, the Internet, and new media, the writings collected here also highlight Rosenbaum’s polemics concerning the digital age. From the rediscovery and recirculation of classic films, to the social and aesthetic impact of technological changes, Rosenbaum doesn’t disappoint in assembling a magisterial cast of little-known filmmakers as well as the familiar faces and iconic names that have helped to define our era.
As we move into this new decade of moviegoing—one in which Hollywood will continue to feel the shockwaves of the digital age—Jonathan Rosenbaum remains a valuable guide. Goodbye Cinema, Hello Cinephilia is a consummate collection of his work, not simply for fans of this seminal critic, but for all those open to the wide variety of films he embraces and helps us to elucidate.
“Jonathan Rosenbaum is a great film critic and I’ve learned so much over the years from his wise writing.”
"Rosenbaum's argument is simpler and more convincing: when you're looking at a film that has survived decades, has many substantive admirers and nothing in it speaks to you, you should probably do some reading on it, or at least watch the extras. You may learn how quickly your gut reaction can change."
"Ceaselessly prolific, frighteningly well-informed on seemingly every detail of film history, and well ahead of the technological curve. . . . The handsomely curated Goodbye Cinema is a dense collection of Rosenbaum’s most fervent causes."
“Jonathan Rosenbaum has long been known for forging a path for cinephilia in a changing landscape, and for cautioning against hand-wringing and nay-saying about new technologies among older generations of movie lovers. Goodbye Cinema Hello Cinephilia, Rosenbaum’s invaluable new collection of writing about film, takes those positions as one of its organizing principles—in keeping with which it includes blog posts as well as more conventionally published pieces, all bringing to bear his vast store of knowledge and dexterity in deploying it, as well as his customary social and political engagement.”
“There’s plenty of evidence on display of what has made Rosenbaum an essential critic for generations of readers.”
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