Roman Polanski: The Cinema of a Cultural Traveller
Polanski is one of the most talented and distinguished of modern film makers. A well-informed cultural traveller, interested in the position of the outsider, he is hard to pigeonhole: he moves easily between mass audience and art-house tastes, between settings and genres; his films, including "Two Men and a Wardrobe", "Cul de Sac", "Rosemary's Baby", "The Pianist" and "Oliver Twist", represent diverse characters and cinematic influences. Like a magpie, he's interested in everything he encounters, but then easily discards his treasures and moves onward. Covering all Polanski's films as director, this welcome book addresses the eclecticism, ambiguity and paradoxes of his cinema, while seeking out the common elements in his films. Ewa Mazierska examines the autobiographical effect of Polanski's films, his characters and diverse narratives, and the place of absurdism, surrealism and the 'double life' of things in his cinema. She looks into the function of music, of religion, power, patriarchy and racism in the films, as well as Polanski's literary adaptations and his use and subversion of film genres.
Herself a Polish emigre, she uncovers Polanski's Polish roots and the extent of their influence on the cinema of this mercurial film maker, at large in the world.

"1110901478"
Roman Polanski: The Cinema of a Cultural Traveller
Polanski is one of the most talented and distinguished of modern film makers. A well-informed cultural traveller, interested in the position of the outsider, he is hard to pigeonhole: he moves easily between mass audience and art-house tastes, between settings and genres; his films, including "Two Men and a Wardrobe", "Cul de Sac", "Rosemary's Baby", "The Pianist" and "Oliver Twist", represent diverse characters and cinematic influences. Like a magpie, he's interested in everything he encounters, but then easily discards his treasures and moves onward. Covering all Polanski's films as director, this welcome book addresses the eclecticism, ambiguity and paradoxes of his cinema, while seeking out the common elements in his films. Ewa Mazierska examines the autobiographical effect of Polanski's films, his characters and diverse narratives, and the place of absurdism, surrealism and the 'double life' of things in his cinema. She looks into the function of music, of religion, power, patriarchy and racism in the films, as well as Polanski's literary adaptations and his use and subversion of film genres.
Herself a Polish emigre, she uncovers Polanski's Polish roots and the extent of their influence on the cinema of this mercurial film maker, at large in the world.

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Roman Polanski: The Cinema of a Cultural Traveller

Roman Polanski: The Cinema of a Cultural Traveller

by Ewa Mazierska
Roman Polanski: The Cinema of a Cultural Traveller

Roman Polanski: The Cinema of a Cultural Traveller

by Ewa Mazierska

Hardcover

$130.00 
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Overview

Polanski is one of the most talented and distinguished of modern film makers. A well-informed cultural traveller, interested in the position of the outsider, he is hard to pigeonhole: he moves easily between mass audience and art-house tastes, between settings and genres; his films, including "Two Men and a Wardrobe", "Cul de Sac", "Rosemary's Baby", "The Pianist" and "Oliver Twist", represent diverse characters and cinematic influences. Like a magpie, he's interested in everything he encounters, but then easily discards his treasures and moves onward. Covering all Polanski's films as director, this welcome book addresses the eclecticism, ambiguity and paradoxes of his cinema, while seeking out the common elements in his films. Ewa Mazierska examines the autobiographical effect of Polanski's films, his characters and diverse narratives, and the place of absurdism, surrealism and the 'double life' of things in his cinema. She looks into the function of music, of religion, power, patriarchy and racism in the films, as well as Polanski's literary adaptations and his use and subversion of film genres.
Herself a Polish emigre, she uncovers Polanski's Polish roots and the extent of their influence on the cinema of this mercurial film maker, at large in the world.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781845112967
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date: 05/25/2007
Pages: 240
Product dimensions: 6.38(w) x 9.52(h) x 0.91(d)

About the Author

Ewa Mazierska is Reader in Contemporary Cinema at the University of Central Lancashire. She is co-author, with Laura Rascaroli of From Moscow to Madrid: European Cities and Postmodern Cinema (I.B. Tauris, 2003) and Crossing New Europe: The European Road Movie (2006), and with El bieta Ostrowska, Women in Polish Cinema (2006).

Table of Contents


List of Illustrations     vii
Acknowledgements     ix
Introduction: An elusive filmmaker     1
The autobiographical effect in the cinema of Polanski     7
The absurd and how to deal with it: Narratives and characters in Polanski's films     24
Landscapes and inner sceneries: Recurring visual motifs of Polanski's films     50
All that jazz and noise: Music in Polanski's films     91
Trust yourself: Polanski's ideology     115
Adapt to survive and express oneself: Polanski's encounters with literature     138
Matrix or empty vessel: Polanski's uses of genre     163
Conclusion: The cinema of a cultural traveller     187
Filmography (with technical details and synopses)     193
Notes     213
Bibliography     217
Index     225
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