- 700 Pages
- Published by Applause Books
- Hardcover
Product Description
“I find John’s critical writing immensely entertaining even when I’m not in agreement… He has the gift, such a rare one, of being able to analyze the work in question, to be able to say why it is that it’s so powerful, so touching; or, on the othe
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John Simon on Film: Criticism 1982-2001
#1 by jdh on April 21, 2010 - 3:03 pm
Mr. Simon is very smart. His reviews are very smart: well written, fairly well argued, and observant of detail. But for an intelligent person, Mr. Simon is not very smart about examining his own assumptions. His main mistake is that he assumes that movies should be evaluated as Art. As a result, he hardly likes anything, and he misses what movies DO have to offer because he wants them to offer something else. He should have learned something from Pauline Kael, who was just as sophisticated (although less intellectualized), but knew how to enjoy The Movies. There are rare movies that are also Art. They are special treasures that need appreciation, and their makers deserve special encouragement and esteem. But unless you are edified by reading endless and cheerless carping, beware this book. One last thing. Mr. Simon is homophobic. This is especially so because these reviews are, at most, only 25 years old, so they cannot be forgiven as period pieces. If Mr. Simon observed anyone taking his persistently dismissive and fusty tone toward any group of which Mr. Simon himself was a member, he would have no difficulty recognizing the prejudice. Not surprisingly, he’s not so great about women, either.
Rating: 3 / 5
#2 by J. Clemons on April 21, 2010 - 5:44 pm
Publishing so many of Simon’s reviews is great. Hats off to the publisher. Its too bad it didn’t include a few more of Simon’s “bad” reviews, because I feel strongly that you learn more about the cinema when he is rebuking or castigating a film. Also, if it is a bad review, I can read the entire review, with the good ones that I haven’t seen I must skip much of the review of a film because Simon gives away so much of the plot. I skim lightly a Simon review to see if it’s negative or positive and if it’s positive, I don’t read it until I see the film.
Apart from that verbiage, Simon is a fabulous writer; he loves film as art (I would argue that film is per se entertainment, never art, except for a very, very few films and not Persona or Wild Strawberries by Bergman: e.g, The Dreamlife of Angels approaches art, as does The Wild Bunch (though Simon didn’t like the film), Psycho (yes it is entertainment but it;s art all the same.) The shop around the corner 30′ version; and 10 or 12 more.)
As for this book, it is a nurturing learning experience, not just about films, but about life and how filmakers perceive and approach life. You will learn how to watch films with a more understanding mind as you watch them, and not by giving up the entertainment component of movies. Simon likes to be entertained, just like all of us (see eg Analyze This) But he want more from a film–depth, authentic characters, serious attitude towards life; good acting; an honest and truthful depiction of what it is the filmaker is trying to say. His criteria for a good film is rigorous, but he likes a variety of films (not just h.e.a.v.y dramas: se Fried Green Tomatoes; Rich in Love; As good as it gets; driving miss daisy etc.) This an extraordinary book: the writing itself is a teaching lesson–when i was teaching high school for a few hears, I used his reviews as samples of what good non-fiction writing is.
A negative: I think, Simon should spend more time analyzing the scripts of the films, and less time praising cinematagrahers (sp?). I think, like most critics of film or theatre, he simply doesn’t see how significant the screenplay is.
I disagree with several of his reviews; I read most of them at the time the films came out in National Review (although Simon is a moderate liberal and does not agree politically with the editors of N.R.: they still let him write whatever he wanted. He does despise cant and p.corrctness. It’s too bad the publisher can’t go back and publish comprehensively his reviews from the 60’s and 70’s where some came from The New Leader.
Anyway this is a hugely enjoyable book that has given me a long list of movies that I want to see, given Simon’s recommendations are invariably golden and RIGHT-ON. Also, try his book on plays: he is even a better critic of live theatre, because he really has a passion for theatre that flows and rockets through his mind and heart, that he simply doesn’t have for film. But he also loves film, even though he laments that most movies can’t even reach the level of positive entertainment, let alone art.
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by R. J. Maxwell on April 21, 2010 - 7:02 pm
Yes, he’s calmed down. His last collection of reviews, “Reverse Angle,” appeared in 1982. I remember the NY Times critic saying that by his reckoning, out of the two hundred or so films, Simon could bring himself to recommend only about fifteen.
He’s far more generous here. Even movies that I myself thought were little more than commercial trash earn his endorsement. And there is less of his quirky word play.
I’ve waited for twenty-four years for this volume to appear and I can’t say I’m at all disappointed. Simon is a responsible professional and a reader always learns something from him, even if it is only the meaning of words like “condign” and “pleonastic.” His latinate prose with its parenthetical inserts rolls informatively along.
I don’t know exactly how to feel about his newly opened mind. I kind of enjoyed the Simon that described Barbra Streisand’s nose as “a ziggurat of meat” and argued for the similarity between Liza Minelli’s face and a turnip. I was always amused by the Loathesome Simon, the guy who said on national television that Andrew Sarris was insane, the guy whose head was decorated with a plate of pasta in The Ginger Man restaurant by Sylvia Miles, an actress he had insulted.
He’s firm in his judgments here, but not loathesome anymore. The approach is more even-handed. Movie people who would have been mercilessly skewered a quarter of a century ago are now treated politely. I kind of like it although, as I say, I also kind of miss the hilarious venom.
I’m glad I bought this book and you probably will be too, although you might be surprised a little by it.
Rating: 4 / 5
#4 by Kevin R. Brogan on April 21, 2010 - 9:46 pm
John Simon is my all time favorite film critic and Reverse Angle was my favorite book of film criticism….until this one. 20 years of some of the best movies ever. Who better than Simon to disect them? Year after year I’ve waited for all these reviews to be put into a compilation and finally it happened. Thank you, Mr. Simon for your all the years of great reviews and for this very early, wonderful Christmas present.
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by S. Berner on April 21, 2010 - 11:25 pm
John Simon is a maddening individual. He is the premier example on what William Goldman called the “Supercritic”. This is one who seems to always find merit in works the majority of his/her colleagues dismiss, and grandly dismisses works most others praise. It would seem, therefore, that he should be likewise easy to dismiss… except for two things.
First, even when he is tearing apart a much beloved film or praising some dismal exercise, he’s, well, right! That is, his points are always on the mark and exceedingly well argued, This can hurt, albeit briefly, any future viewings of a favorite film, and, probably, enhance viewings of a “dog” (I say “probably” because life’s too short to test out this latter proposition). Second, he is. without doubt or peer, the most brilliant, witty, and pithy writer on (pick your subject-he’s written on them all) Music, Theater, Books, or, as in this case, Film, not only of our time but, arguably, of all time.
Sure he’s uncommonly (and unnecessarily) cruel to those he dislikes, commenting not only on their abilities (fair game), but on their looks, intelligence, life-style, what-have-you.
And, sure, he can be so maddeningly erudite that you know he’s using words and phrases whose meaning only he can tell. But, those words! That wit! Do NOT start reading this 700+ collection of some two decades of reviews unless you’ve lots of time at your disposal, because once you start, you will NOT be able to stop,
Rating: 5 / 5