A Spanish Labyrinth: Films of Pedro Almodovar, The

Book Description

Almodvar is Spain's most successful and controversial director, a unique blend of art-house auteur and popular film-maker. His films, with their mix of Hollywood and European styles and of popular melodrama and comedy, have been attracting growing international audiences since the success of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. His most recent films are the critically acclaimed Live Flesh, based on a Ruth Rendell story, and All About My Mother, the runaway winner of the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. A Spanish Labyrinth is a much needed, clear and comprehensive introduction to the films of Almodvar, which investigates cultural and national contexts for his work, issues of gender, sexuality, stars, genre, visual style, music and much more. It is the ideal companion to Almodvar for students of film and Hispanic Studies, as well as those generally interested in film and Spanish culture. AUTHORBIO: MARK ALLINSON lectures in the Department of Hispanic Studies, Royal Holloway, University of London.

Customer Reviews:

good insights.......2003-02-03

Stimulating, illuminating insights into the genius mind of Almodovar. The author paints a respectful, comprehensive picture of one the greatest living filmmakers. While we can never truly know everything about the mysteriously talented director, it sure is fun to sneak a peek and try to figure out some theories.

Pedro Almodovar...A New Title (At Last).......2001-10-30

Finding a new book on Almodovar is always a treat, especially in English, and Mark Allinson's book is a very interesting analysis of all of Almodvar's great work.
A definate must for any Almodovar fan like me.

Brilliant.

Mark Williams ...

A Labyrinth of Information.......2001-09-15

As I have only seen two films by the critically acclaimed and now Oscar winning director, my interest in film production encouraged my reading of Mark Allinson's "A Spanish Labyrinth" which touches on almost every aspect of Almodovar's techniques, and compares these with traditional filmmaking of, say, the Hollywood system.
The "in depth" analysis of each of these techniques, and other notable areas of the book transpire the writers clear passion for cinema, Spain, and the Spanish language. Without this, the book would lack it's captivating edge, and be "just another book about filmmaking."
Little is known of Pedro Almodovar in this country. Recources are limited and "A Spanish Labyrith" is only one of two books on the subject written in English. Whilst Almodovar produces all of his films in Spain, it is only a matter of time before he makes films for a wider audience, directing actors from a script written in English.
To conclude, the book is of great interest to anyone who enjoys watching, analysing or even producing films, or indeed shows any interest in World Cinema, Europe and particularly Spain.
Allow the book to be the basis for your introduction to Almodovar, then you'll know what to look for in his latest film releases.

An Unspeakable Betrayal: Selected Writings of Luis Buñuel

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Sublime
Finally, these writings are available

An Unspeakable Betrayal: Selected Writings of Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520234235

Book Description

Although Luis Buñuel, one of the great filmmakers of the century, was notoriously reluctant to discuss his own work in public, he wrote--and wrote well--on many subjects over the years. This collection proceeds chronologically, from poetry and short stories written in Buñuel's youth in Spain to an essay written in 1980, not long before his death. Newly translated into English, the writings offer startling insights into the filmmaker's life and thought.
The earliest pieces came well before Buñuel joined the Surrealist movement in Paris and created the landmark film Un chien andalou with Salvador Dalí. Yet these and the early Surrealist writings reveal the inventiveness of the mind that would later create such masterpieces of cinema as L'Age d'or, Los olvidados, Viridiana, The Milky Way, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, and That Obscure Object of Desire.
Later writings, which include screenplays and reflections on his own and others' films, illuminate many aspects of Buñuel's career, as well as the ways of thinking and perceiving that underlie his unique cinematic style. The final essay by this extraordinary artist sums up his view of the world--still vibrant and full of contradictions--at the end of his life.

Customer Reviews:

Sublime.......2003-06-14

The "return" of the master. Although not as good of a read, imho, as MY LAST SIGH, this is still required reading for Bunuel fans, and still retains all of the great artist's power, humor, and insight. In an era of big bucks and ready-made food, it stands out like a whale among minnows.

Finally, these writings are available.......2000-06-07

This is a wonderful and funny collection of surreal writings from one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. Many of the earlier, surreal writings by Bunuel, written when he was with the Surrealists in France, are imaginative and funny. There is also the complete collection of poetry originally titled An Andulsian Dog, which is surprisingly strong. The criticisms by Bunuel, along with the autobiographical material, offer insight to his aesthetic beliefs and his thinking. There are also snatches of the last screenplay on which he was working before he died in addition to the original screenplay for Andulsian Dog and a Hollywood treatment for an unrealized film GOYA. Overall, this is a big treasure for those who love Bunuel and who have been anxiously awaiting to read his hard to find pieces. It is a great companion to Bunuel's MY LAST SIGN.

Feminist Discourse and Spanish Cinema: Sight Unseen (Oxford Hispanic Studies)

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Feminist Discourse and Spanish Cinema: Sight Unseen (Oxford Hispanic Studies)
Susan Martin-Marquez
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 019815979X

Book Description

Feminist Discourse and Spanish Cinema provides the first detailed consideration of women directors working before the Civil War and during Franco's dictatorship, and is the first to explore the impact of feminism on filmmaking in Spain. Part I focuses on three directors, Rosario Pi, Ana Mariscal, and Pilar Miro, whose careers span the history of sound cinema in Spain. The book highlights their struggle to achieve agency within the male-dominated film industry, and draws upon extensive archival research as well as in-depth textual analysis to reveal their negotiation with questions of authorship, female subjectivity and national cinema. Part II explores six films by women and men directorsDSthree each from the Francoist and post-Franco periodsDSthat foreground a number of issues of fundamental importance to feminism, from the indoctrination and 'performance' of gender, to the fraught effort to reconcile power with sexual pleasure. The Afterword treats the remarkable recent boom in women directors and traces the shift in their work towards the exploration of multiple forms of difference.

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Aventura De Miguel Littin, La
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Manufacturer: Plaza y Janes
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 030735041X
Release Date: 2006-02-07

Tim Burton: Diario De Un Sonador / Diary of a Dreamer (Cine Jaguar)

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Tim Burton: Diario De Un Sonador / Diary of a Dreamer (Cine Jaguar)
David G. Panadero , and Miguel Angel Parra
Manufacturer: Jaguar Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Films of Carlos Saura
Marvin D'Lugo
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0691008558

Book Description

Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura, who began his career under the censorship of Franco's regime, has forged an international reputation for his unique cinematic treatment of emotional and spiritual responses to repressive political conditions. In films such as Carmen and El Dorado, where reality and fantasy are deliberately fused together, Saura reveals the illusions of Franco's mythologized Spain--a chaste, Catholic, and heroic Spain of the Golden Age--that tend to isolate Spaniards from the rest of Europe, from each other, and from their own individuality. In this first English-language book on Saura, Marvin D'Lugo looks at the social and artistic forces behind this film auteur's highly personal cinema. Tracing Saura's career over three decades, D'Lugo discusses each work from Hooligans (1959), a realist film about a Madrid street-gang member trying to become a bullfighter, to The Dark Night (1989), a film dealing with the persecution of the religious reformer St. John of the Cross in the late sixteenth century. Throughout he argues that Saura's cinematic style results from a highly original response to the political and historical constraints of Spanish culture. D'Lugo shows how in order to explore the complex cultural politics of "Spanishness" as it was institutionalized under Franco, Saura frames his narrations through the eyes of characters who question the forces that shape personal and collective identity. Moving beyond the limits of traditional auteur studies, this book addresses the relationship between the filmmaker and the cultural ideology that historically has thwarted and manipulated the expressions of individuality in Spanish society.

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Conversaciones Con Fellini
Raul Trejo
Manufacturer: Gedisa Editorial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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20 Nuevos Directores Del Cine Espanol/ 20 New Directors of Spanish Cinema (Libro Practico Y Aficiones / Practical Books and Fans)

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20 Nuevos Directores Del Cine Espanol/ 20 New Directors of Spanish Cinema (Libro Practico Y Aficiones / Practical Books and Fans)
Carlos F. Heredero
Manufacturer: Generico
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Alfred Hitchcock / Alfred Hitchcock: Una Vida De Luces Y Sombras / A Life of Darkness and Light

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Alfred Hitchcock / Alfred Hitchcock: Una Vida De Luces Y Sombras / A Life of Darkness and Light
Patrick McGilligan
Manufacturer: T&b Editores
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Directory of Spanish and Portuguese Film-Makers and Films

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Directory of Spanish and Portuguese Film-Makers and Films
Rafael de Espana
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0313294593

Book Description

This new book catalogues some 215 prominent film directors from both countries, giving accurate bio-filmographies and providing an in-depth reference source. Full attention is given to the propaganda cinema under dictators Franco and Salazar, to film-makers who left to work abroad--especially in Latin America--and to those filming in the regional languages (mainly Basque and Catalan). There is coverage not only of internationally well-known figures Almodovar, Bunuel, Oliveira, and Saura, but also across the complete range of feature, documentary, and animation film-making: early pioneers Segundo de Chomon, Catalans Jose Maria Codina, Fructuoso Gelabert, and Magi Muria, and Portuguese Aurelio da Paz dos Reis; experimentalists and avant-garde figures such as Lorenzo Llobet-Gracia, Jose Val del Omar, and Nemesio Sobrevila and documentarist Antonio Campos; animators Cruz Delgado, Francisco Macian, and Arturo Moreno (who worked on the first full-length animated film in Europe, Garbancito de la Mancha, in 1945). Each entry gives information on the film-maker's career (date and place of birth, educational qualifications, work experience, positions held), together with a list of films made, with dates of production. There are three indexes: Country Index, Film Title Index, and General Index. The index of film titles lists over 3,000 entries, including the original languages and their English language and aka equivalents.

Book Description

People have always been curious about the plants and animals with which they coexist. Primitive cultures identified edible and poisonous plants largely by trial and error, and then used them for hunting, executions, euthanasia, and magico-religious rites, as well as for their medicinal properties. In this fascinating book, John Mann investigates the evolution of modern medicine from its roots in folk medicine, and reveals the continuing importance of natural plant and animal products, many of which remain undiscovered but under threat by the wholesale destruction of the Earth's wild places. In this new edition, he has updated the material to include discussion of the background to some of the most talked-about drugs of recent years, including Prozac and Viagra. 'This is an erudite treasure trove in which each page sparkles with a concoction of historical anecdote and scientific revelation.' The Good Book Guide 'The book is peppered throughout with the legend, superstition and science of bygone ages, and interesting reading they make.' New Scientist 'This highly entertaining account investigates the evolution of modern medicines. ...Professor Mann does it with great style.' The Lancet '... an excellent introductory text for those not liable to dizziness as they jump from one culture to another, or one century to the next. ' Nature '... provides intelligent material for those advocating conservation of our global plant resources because of their potentially important reservoir of therapeutically active chemicals for animal and human disease.' The Times Higher Education Supplement 'Delightfully rich... buy and read Mann's wonderful book.' Chemical and Engineering News

Customer Reviews:

Intriguing influence of plants and microoganisms on history........1999-10-20

John Mann creatively links science and history together by referencing historical events, like the witch trials, to chemicals produced naturally by microorganisms, plants and animals. I use this book in an introductory science course to demonstrate how important natural products are in our society today -- whether the chemical is beneficial or deadly. Easy reading for the non-scientist, but factual enough for the scientist.

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Murder, Magic, And Medicine.
JOHN. MANN
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OL7OMC

Basutoland medicine murder;: A report on the recent outbreak of "diretlo" murders in Basutoland (Great Britain. Parliament. Papers by command, cmnd)

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Basutoland medicine murder;: A report on the recent outbreak of "diretlo" murders in Basutoland (Great Britain. Parliament. Papers by command, cmnd)
Gwilym Iwan Jones
Manufacturer: H.M. Stationery Off
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B0007JKKHM

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Murder, Magic, and Medicine
John Mann
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKS67K

The "pow-wow" book;: A treatise on the art of "healing by prayer" and "laying on of hands", etc., practiced by the Pennsylvania-Germans and others; testimonials; ... famous "witch" murder trial, at York, Pa.,

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The "pow-wow" book;: A treatise on the art of "healing by prayer" and "laying on of hands", etc., practiced by the Pennsylvania-Germans and others; testimonials; ... famous "witch" murder trial, at York, Pa.,
A. Monroe Aurand
Manufacturer: Priv. print. by the Aurand press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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