Arguably the leading (and most influential) film theorist alive today, David Bordwell, with his frequent collaborator Kristin Thompson, are releasing a book on Christopher Nolan titled Christopher Nolan: A Labyrinth of Linkages. It includes previously published essays reshapen and expanded upon, and he explains the goals and formatting of the book on his site here:
http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2013/ ... her-nolan/
If any of you've read any of his essays, it's clear Bordwell misconstrues Nolan's goals as a filmmaker. Instead of a critical analysis on the successes and pitfalls of Nolan's intended stylistic assemblage, Bordwell constantly looks at Nolan's movies through the narrow lens conventional styles and can't seem to realize the innovations in film form Nolan brings to the table, succesfully or not. A brief example is a detailed essay picking apart the editing of Insomnia, with a pretty brutal critique of Nolan's handle on these editing these images. But, ironically, it somehow doesn't occur to him Nolan isn't intending his editing to be invisible, and instead to unnerve/displace viewers. Since a through-line of each of his films is to orientate the subjectivity of the narrator with the subjectivity of the viewer into an aligned point of view, purposely discontinuous editing becomes one of many tools Nolan uses to create this effect.
The essays as a whole are interesting and widen appreciation for each of Nolan's films, either by his analysis at large, or your disagreement with it. I'm excited to read this.
-Vader
http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2013/ ... her-nolan/
If any of you've read any of his essays, it's clear Bordwell misconstrues Nolan's goals as a filmmaker. Instead of a critical analysis on the successes and pitfalls of Nolan's intended stylistic assemblage, Bordwell constantly looks at Nolan's movies through the narrow lens conventional styles and can't seem to realize the innovations in film form Nolan brings to the table, succesfully or not. A brief example is a detailed essay picking apart the editing of Insomnia, with a pretty brutal critique of Nolan's handle on these editing these images. But, ironically, it somehow doesn't occur to him Nolan isn't intending his editing to be invisible, and instead to unnerve/displace viewers. Since a through-line of each of his films is to orientate the subjectivity of the narrator with the subjectivity of the viewer into an aligned point of view, purposely discontinuous editing becomes one of many tools Nolan uses to create this effect.
The essays as a whole are interesting and widen appreciation for each of Nolan's films, either by his analysis at large, or your disagreement with it. I'm excited to read this.
-Vader
