Issue #0

A Cinema of Loneliness: Penn, Stone, Kubrick, Scorsese, Spielberg, Altman

Penn, Stone, Kubrick, Scorsese, Spielberg, Altman

Plot

In this twentieth-anniversary millennial edition, Kolker continues and expands his inquiry into the cinematic representation of culture by updating and revising the chapters on the directors discussed in the first edition-- Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, and Steven Spielberg-- to include their most important works since 1988, analyzing those films which have made important advances in the directors' careers and which have given cause for rethinking the films that preceded them. Included is a profile of Arthur Penn's career followed by a new comparative study of Oliver Stone, who mirrors Penn's practice of drawing his films out of historical and ideological currents. Placing the films of Penn, Stone, Kubrick, Scorsese, Spielberg, and Altman in an ideological perspective, Kolker both illuminates their relationship to one another and to larger currents in our culture, and emphasizes the statements their films make about American society and culture. This edition includes a new preface, a requiem for Stanley Kubrick, updated filmography, and 48 images from various films discussed through the text.