From Library Journal
This volume might be retitled The Portable Fassbinder. Its contents range from major interviews to bits of ephemera such as Fassbinder's list of ten best soccer players. Mostly, Fassbinder talks about films, his own and those of others. Fassbinder, who killed himself in 1982 at age 36, was renowned for his workaholic habits, and some items here suggest more energy than deep thinking. For instance, in the course of an essay on director Michael Curtiz, he admits to having seen only a couple of Curtiz's films. Yet the book's "thrown-together" quality reflects Fassbinder's mad rush from idea to idea, and the colloquial translation lets the voice of a tortured artist come through. The editors might have included a more thorough introductory essay, especially since Fassbinder has been dead for a full decade and his place among directors can now be examined more clearly. Recommended for public libraries and film studies collections.
- Mary C. Kalfatovic, Telesec Lib. Svcs., Washington, D.C.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
There is plenty in the book to substantiate Fassbinder's position as the exemplary European filmmaker of his day, plenty to back up the claim staked by the films themselves for an engaged and provocative cinema that can rival Hollywood on its own terms. Sight and Sound
