New York Review Books have today confirmed the release of two new books for January 2017: ‘Bresson on Bresson’ & ‘Notes on the Cinematograph’.
BRESSON ON BRESSON: INTERVIEWS 1943-1983
By Robert Bresson
Translated from the French by Anna Moschovakis
Edited by Mylène Bresson | Preface by Pascal Mérigeau
£11.99 hardback | 19th January 2017 | New York Review Books
In English for the first time
“Robert Bresson is French cinema, as Dostoyevsky is the Russian novel and Mozart is German music.” –Jean-Luc Godard
Robert Bresson was the highly influential director of many acclaimed films, such as Journal d’un curé de campagne (Diary of a Country Priest, 1951), Pickpocket (1959), and Balthazar (1966), widely considered to be his masterpiece.
Known for his integrity and originality, Bresson insisted on the use of nonprofessional actors, shunned the “advances” of Cinerama and CinemaScope, and was openly critical of the negative influence of capitalism and the studio system on the art of film.
This collection of interviews and testimonials, organized chronologically and in English for the first time, create an intimate portrait of Bresson and the development of his thought and craft over the course of forty years.
Bresson on Bresson is a revealing look at the purity of the director’s vision and the recurring mantras that he consistently returned to, such as his belief in the value of intuition: “I’d rather people feel a film before understanding it. I’d rather feelings arise before intellect.”
Pre-order Now [click image to buy]
NOTES ON THE CINEMATOGRAPH
By Robert Bresson
Translated from the French by Jonathan Griffin
With an introduction by J.M.G. Le Clézio
£8.99 paperback | 19th January 2017 | NYRB Classics
Robert Bresson’s Notes on the Cinematograph is a significant aphoristic addition to the canon of film theory and criticism.
An iconoclast in his methodology, Bresson’s interest was in minimalism, the sparse use of score, and nonprofessional actors whom he referred to as “models.”
First published in 1975, Notes on the Cinematograph is a succinct and highly-regarded work, an aggregation of Bresson’s “likings…for sincerity, for nature, for economy and precision in art and dislikings…for vanity, intellectualism, and conformity.”
An absolute essential for cinephiles and film students alike, stunning all with many grab-by-the-throat adages such as “Your film is beginning when your secret wishes pass into your models” and “Don’t show all sides of things. A margin of indefiniteness.”
Pre-order Now [click image to buy]
