Steven Spielberg
A Life in Films
A film-centric portrait of the extraordinarily gifted movie director whose decades – long influence on American popular culture is unprecedented. "Everything about me is in my films", Steven Spielberg has said. Taking this as a key to understanding the hugely successful moviemaker, Molly Haskell explores the full range of Spielberg's works for the light they shine upon the man himself. Through such powerhouse hits as "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "E. T.", "Jurassic Park", and "Indiana Jones", to lesser-known masterworks like "A. I." and "Empire of the Sun", to the haunting "Schindler's List", Haskell shows how Spielberg's uniquely evocative filmmaking and story-telling reveal the many ways in which his life, work, and times are entwined. Organizing chapters around specific films, the distinguished critic discusses how Spielberg's childhood in non-Jewish suburbs, his parents' traumatic divorce, his return to Judaism upon his son's birth, and other events echo in his work. She offers a brilliant portrait of the extraordinary director – a fearful boy living through his imagination who grew into a man whose openness, generosity of spirit, and creativity have enchanted audiences for more than 40 years.
About the Author
Molly Haskell is a film critic and the author of five previous books, including "Love and Other Infectious Diseases" and "Frankly, My Dear: 'Gone with the Wind' Revisited". She writes and lectures widely on film. She lives in New York City.
Reviews
"This is a wonderful book, at once personal and critical, eloquent and vivacious. The book vibrates with a productive tension between the writer and her subject" – Morris Dickstein, author of "Dancing in the Dark" and "Why Not Say What Happened"
"Molly Haskell, one of our most essential authorities on the movies, has written a fascinating, witty, acutely discerning book about a subject that would seem, at first glance, odd. But what a spectacular match it proves to be! Spielberg is given his proper due, and Haskell outdoes herself" – Phillip Lopate, author of "American Movie Critics"
"Steven Spielberg and Molly Haskell – the great producer-director of modern film and one of the most intelligent and sensitive film writers we have ever had. The result is as rich and intriguing as the meeting of Elliott and 'E. T'. We know the Spielberg films, or we think we do, until they come under the cool yet warming gaze of Ms. Haskell. As a result, we are the more fascinated with Spielberg and the more encouraged by the principle of essential and enlightening film commentary" – David Thomson, author of "A Biographical Dictionary of Film"
