The Wallflower Critical Guide to Contemporary British and Irish Directors

by Yoram Allon, Del Cullen, Hannah Patterson

Overview

Encompassing the careers of over 350 directors who have worked within the British and Irish film industries over the last twenty years, this volume covers stalwarts such as David Lean, Richard Attenborough, and Neil Jordan; pioneers of 1960s Social Realism such as Lindsay Anderson and Tony Richardson, 1980s heritage filmmakers Ishmail Merchant and James Ivory; stylistic innovators such as Sally Potter, Lynne Ramsay and Derek Jarman; documentarists Nick Broomfield and Kevin MacDonald; and many emergent contemporary talents such as Danny Boyle, Shane Meadows and Guy Ritchie. For each director, the volume provides brief biographical material, a complete filmography, and critical analysis of individual works.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781903364215
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	03/06/2002
Series:	The Wallflower Critical Guides to Contemporary Film Directors
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	404
Product dimensions:	7.48(w) x 9.45(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Yoram Allon is editorial director of Wallflower Press.

Del Cullen is chief editor of Wallflower Press and is a novelist and screenwriter.

Hannah Patterson is project manager of the Critical Guides and a freelance film critic.

Editorial Reviews

The films are analyzed with considerable insight, mindful of the interrelationships of the films in the directors' overall body of work, as well as the context of cinema history.

American Reference Books Annual

As a reference tool, this Critical Guide is utterly indispensable... Addictive.

Film Ireland

This second installment in the four-part "Wallflower Critical Guide" series encompasses the careers of over 300 contemporary directors from Britain and Ireland. (The first installment, released last year, covered North America; future installments will cover European and world cinema.) However, the editors have wisely chosen to include nonnative directors, such as Joseph Losey and Stanley Kubrick, who have been major forces in the U.K. film industry, in addition to less serious personalities like Hammer Studios's Freddie Francis. Many of the names here e.g., Michael Lindsay-Hogg, Ismail Merchant, and Ridley Scott will be familiar to anyone interested in cinema, but emerging and little-known directors are also well represented. Almost every director listed is still active in the field, although figures central to modern U.K. cinema such as Tony Richardson (who died in 1991) are also featured. Each of the signed, alphabetically arranged critical essays provides brief biographical data on the director, an overview of his or her film career, and occasional information on upcoming projects. Entries range from a brief paragraph to roughly four pages, depending on the significance of the director, but all are well written and insightful. An excellent addition to all academic and public library film collections, this book nicely complements Nicolet Elert's International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers: Directors and Andrew Sarris's The St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia. Anthony J. Adam, Prairie View A&M Univ. Lib., TX Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

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