Writers at the Movies: 26 Contemporary Authors Celebrate 26 Memorable Movies

This is a truly superior collection of non-fiction pieces by well (and some not so well) known fiction writers on their favorite films. Writers represented here include Robert Coover, Susan Sontag, Francine Prose, Rick Moody, Stephen Dobyns, Charles Baxter, and 20 more; the films they've selected are a really interesting group of movies, ranging from, believe it or not, the Japanese 60s cheesefest Destroy All Monsters! to The Godfather to Titicut Follies, among others. What's also interesting is the diversity in the length of the pieces. Richard Howard turns in a punchy little 2 pages on Robert Bresson's Un Homme Echappe (A Man Escaped), while Edward Hirsch (unknown to me) waxes at length--32 pages--on the film Stevie. Aside from those mentioned in the last sentence, directors represented include Chabrol, Buster Keaton, Vincent Gallo (the great Buffalo 66), Polanski, Fassbinder, Coppola, Wajda, Truffaut, Antonioni, Huston, Godard, and, interestingly, Samuel Beckett for the film version of Quadra. A fascinating read for film fanatics, or for those who love literary fiction--or just plain great prose. Definitely recommended!

Reading Writers at the Movies is nearly as engrossing as seeing the movies that are the subjects of the book's 26 essays. Of course, that's probably to be expected when writers such as Susan Sontag and the infamous Salman Rushdie offer their takes on movie classics.The typical take on movie criticism is that anybody can be a critic, since everyone has an opinion. But when a writer who can appreciate the craft of character creation gets ahold of a movie (or should I say, vice versa), it can quickly illustrate the difference between an artist and a hack for hire. Rick Bass's critique of Buffalo '66--a movie that, as he confessed in his essay, I had no desire to see because of its gimmicky subject matter--vividly illustrates what I call The Pauline Kael Theorem: The feeling that, even if you don't agree with a review from a given critic, you're still thrilled to read his or her take on it.There's a wide variety of movies covered, too. The expected classics are here, such as The Wizard of Oz (Rushdie's take on it is, you should pardon the expression, one for the books) and The Godfather. But the book also covers some underrated gems (such as Frederick Wiseman's documentary Titicut Follies) and some critical howlers (Titanic) that will make you either look at old favorites in a new way or make you run out the video store in search of an unseen gem.This book should be required reading in courses on movies, criticism, or just plain old writing.

Alternately playful and earnest, erudite and silly, these are delightful essays and perfect vacation reading. Most of the authors use this as an opportunity for some sort of memoir, some are deft at film criticism, some spend too much time laboriously recounting a plot, but the vast majority of the pieces are astutely observed, unpretentious, and immediately likeable.