From Publishers Weekly
The title of this book, a collection of Turan's daily newspaper reviews from the
Los Angeles Times, promises the unearthing of deeply obscure material or a truly revolutionary take on old favorites. Turan, who is also a contributor to NPR's
Morning Edition, sets the book up more modestly in his introduction as a guide to unsung films now on DVD and video. He's a lovely reviewer, able to encapsulate a film's charms in a few phrases, and he has a particular knack for opening sentences, an important tool for any newspaper writer. But the section on English-language films contains reviews of movies like
Election,
Dead Man Walking and
Muriel's Wedding—i.e., multiple Oscar nominees and winners, many that benefited from mass-market publicity campaigns. In essence, Turan's favorite flicks are already sung. His section on foreign films is far more useful, since many of them had very limited releases. Turan saves the best for last: nine longer essays he calls "Retrospectives." These pieces treat topics we don't hear much about: the great directors Max Ophuls and Frank Borzage, the delectable treats that came from "pre-code" Hollywood, and Yiddish film. And Turan's funny gloss on the familiar conventions of Chinese martial arts films shows how perceptive and winning he can be.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Turan,
Los Angeles Times and National Public Radio film critic, collects reviews of more than 140 films that may have slipped under most filmgoers' radar. While such films as
Dirty Pretty Things,
Yi Yi,
crumb, and
Eyes without a Face did not get the distribution of
The Lord of the Rings, they have, according to Turan, made his "professional life richly rewarding." His readily apparent enthusiasm comes without hyperbole, although he is prone to saying such things as "Nigel Hawthorne's work as the deranged monarch . . . enlarges our understanding of what acting can accomplish"--which can be taken as a bit grand. Reviews have been updated and revised--some include brief notes about what certain actors have gone on to do--but the one on Mike Leigh's
Naked makes no reference to his
Secrets & Lies and the one on
The Commitments does not refer to
The Snapper, also based on a Roddy Doyle novel. A section on retrospectives is a nice bonus, as are articles on such filmmakers as Anthony Mann and Frank Borzage.
Benjamin SegedinCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
