Film Analysis
A Casebook

Film Analysis: A Casebook offers an accessible introduction to film analysis through close readings of 25 historically significant films from around the world. Features a geographically diverse selection of films and directors, with representation from 20 different countries Covers many of the central films treated in today&rsquo,s cinema courses, and the issues raised about them Provides students with practical models to help them improve their own writing and analytical skills Supplemented with film credits, images, and bibliographies, director filmographies, a glossary of film terms, and suggested topics for writing and discussion

Preface vii

Chapter 1. F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922, Germany) 1

Chapter 2. Jean Renoir’s La Grande Illusion (1937, France) 12

Chapter 3. Carl–Theodor Dreyer’s Day of Wrath (1943, Denmark) 23

Chapter 4. Vittorio De Sica’s Shoeshine (1946, Italy) 34

Chapter 5. Jacques Tati’s Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (1953, France) 42

Chapter 6. Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront (1954, USA) 52

Chapter 7. Agnès Varda’s La Pointe Courte (1954, France) 60

Chapter 8. Jack Clayton’s Room at the Top (1959, England) 69

Chapter 9. Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura (1960, Italy) 80

Chapter 10. Ingmar Bergman’s Winter Light (1962, Sweden) 91

Chapter 11. Jiøí Menzel’s Closely Watched Trains (1966, Czechoslovakia) 98

Chapter 12. Mike Nichols’ The Graduate (1967, USA) 108

Chapter 13. Fred Schepisi’s The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978, Australia) 120

Chapter 14. Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979, Germany) 131

Chapter 15. Shohei Imamura’s Vengeance Is Mine (1979, Japan) 140

Chapter 16. Idrissa Ouédraogo’s Yaaba (1989, Burkina Faso) 151

Chapter 17. Aki Kaurismäki’s The Match Factory Girl (1989, Finland) 158

Chapter 18. Zhang Yimou’s Ju Dou (1990, China) 166

Chapter 19. Sergei Bodrov’s Prisoner of the Mountains (1996, Russia) 174

Chapter 20. Abbas Kiarostami’s A Taste of Cherry (1997, Iran) 186

Chapter 21. Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter (1997, Canada) 197

Chapter 22. Jean–Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne’s The Son (2002, Belgium) 209

Chapter 23. Carlos Reygadas’ Battle in Heaven (2005, Mexico) 217

Chapter 24. Corneliu Porumboiu’s Police, Adjective (2009, Romania) 226

Chapter 25. Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011, Turkey) 236

Film Credits and Directors’ Filmographies 248

Topics for Writing and Discussion 269

Glossary of Film Terms 275

Bibliography: Film Analysis 281

Index 284

Undergraduate students taking courses in Film Analysis, Introduction to Film, Film Appreciation, History of Film, Survey of Cinema, Film Directors, and Film Style and Imagination; also for teachers, scholars, and cinephiles

Bert Cardullo is a retired professor of Film Studies who taught for thirty–five years in the United States as well as Finland and Turkey. A former film critic for the Hudson Review in New York, Cardullo is also the author, editor, or translator of numerous books, including Stage and Screen: Adaptation Theory from 1916 to 2000 (2012), Soundings on Cinema: Speaking to Film and Film Artists (2008), In Search of Cinema: Writings on International Film Art (2004), and Bazin at Work (1997).