Elizabeth Taylor's electrifying performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The milkshake scene in There Will be Blood. Leonardo DiCaprio's turn as Arnie in What's Eating Gilbert Grape? What makes these performances so special?
Eloquently written and engagingly laid out, Murray Pomerance answers the tough question as to what makes an exceptional, or virtuosic performance. Pomerance intensively explores virtuosic performance in film, ranging from classical works through to contemporary production, and gives serious consideration to structural problems of dramatization and production, actorial methods and tricks, and contingencies that befall performers giving stand-out moments.
Looking at more than 40 aspects of the virtuosic act, and using an approach based in careful meditation and discursion, Virtuoso moves through such themes as showing off, effacement, self-consciousness, performative collapse, spontaneity, acting as dream, acting and femininity, virtuosity and torture, secrecy, improvisation, virtuosic silence, and others; giving special attention to the labors of such figures as Fred Astaire, Johnny Depp, Marlene Dietrich, Basil Rathbone, Christopher Plummer, Leonardo DiCaprio, Alice Brady, Ethel Waters, James Mason, and dozens more. Numerous scenic virtuosities are examined in depth, from films as far-ranging as Singin' in the Rain and The Bridge on the River Kwai, and My Man Godfrey. As the first book about virtuosity in film performance, Virtuoso offers exciting new angles from which to view film both classical and contemporary.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
In 44 epigrammatic chapters, Pomerance examines the work of literally hundreds of screen actors, capturing the essence of their performances in isolated gestures, speech patterns, facial expressions, and other bits of cinematic legerdemain ... The depth, range, and scope of this volume is stunning, as is the precision with which Pomerance unpacks these moments from more than a thousand films, shedding new light on the actor's craft. Summing Up: Highly recommended. * CHOICE * An interesting and compelling read throughout ... the book is a joy to read from start to finish, whether one knows the performances being discussed or not, and makes a wonderful addition to the growing body of scholarly writings on performance and star studies. * Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television * In this extraordinary volume, Murray Pomerance acts as something like a spirit guide to the mysteries of cinematic performance. The text conjures a pageant of gestures, voices, faces and moments that exemplify virtuosity, accompanied by critical reflection that is never less than compelling. Pomerance's prose is itself virtuosic: lucid, penetrating, brilliant. It asks questions we didn't know could be asked, and never resorts to easy answers. This makes the book essential reading, not just for scholars and students of film performance, but for anyone interested in the art and magic of the cinema. * Dr. Alex Clayton, Senior Lecturer in Film and Television, University of Bristol, UK * From detailed examinations of such singular talents like James Dean and Cary Grant, to the subtler, fleeting, performative moments by virtuosos as varied as John Barrymore and Kristen Stewart, Murray Pomerance offers a new way of approaching, as well as a language for addressing, the riddling qualities of great film acting. What magic the actors explored in this book do with gesture, expression and inflexion, Pomerance does here with incisive description, analysis, and an often delightful turn of phrase. * Dr. Daniel Varndell, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, University of Winchester, UK *
Sprache
Verlagsort
Verlagsgruppe
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Zielgruppe
Für höhere Schule und Studium
Illustrationen
Maße
Höhe: 229 mm
Breite: 152 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-1-5013-5068-9 (9781501350689)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Murray Pomerance is an independent scholar living in Toronto, Canada. He is the editor of the "Techniques of the Moving Image" series and the Horizons of Cinema series, and co-editor, with Lester D. Friedman and Adrienne L. McLean respectively, of the Screen Decades and Star Decades series. Pomerance has written, edited and co-edited several books, including Cinema, If You Please (2018), Moment of Action (2016), Alfred Hitchcock's America (2013), The Horse who Drank the Sky: Film Experience beyond Narrative and Theory (2008), and two BFI Classics on Marnie (2014) and The Man Who Knew Too Much (2016).
Autor*in
Independent scholar, Canada
Acknowledgements
Overture
Chapter 1: A Brief History of the Virtuosic Moment
Chapter 2: Showing Off
Chapter 3: Effacement and Allure
Chapter 4: Money
Chapter 5: "I Am Acting"
Chapter 6: "I Am On Show"
Chapter 7: Charisma as Commodity
Chapter 8: Outstanding
Chapter 9: Virtuosity Superimposed
Chapter 10: Spontaneity
Chapter 11: In Dreams Awake
Chapter 12: A Feminine Mystique
Chapter 13: Tortures
Chapter 14: Secret Virtuosity
Chapter 15: (In)Credible Belief
Chapter 16: Touched by the Camera
Chapter 17: Improvise
Chapter 18: Breathe
Chapter 19: Director/Virtuoso
Chapter 20: Heimlichkeit
Chapter 21: Collapse
Chapter 22: Bigger Than Life
Chapter 23: The Spectacle of Things Falling Apart
Chapter 24: Limping On
Chapter 25: The Eternal Return
Chapter 26: Borders
Chapter 27: Facing
Chapter 28: Louder Louder, Softer Softer
Chapter 29: Virtuosity Classical
Chapter 30: Near Misses
Chapter 31: Discounts
Chapter 32: Virtuosic Silence
Chapter 33: Virtuosic Support
Chapter 34: Control
Chapter 35: Virtuosic Play-Within-Play
Chapter 36: Upstairs Downstairs
Chapter 37: Lost in the Stars
Chapter 38: Virtuosity Pianissimo Virtuosity Forte
Chapter 39: Virtuosity as Event
Chapter 40: Indelibles
Chapter 41: Virtuosity and "The Virtuoso"
Chapter 42: Negative Virtuosity
Chapter 43: Virtuosic Slippage
Chapter 44: The End or "End" of Virtuosic Performance
Coda: A Thought of Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
