Read Instead…in Print

A photo of a good book about cinema. No discursive, pretentious analyses, no verbose scrutiny. Because the idea is to invite you to read the book, not read about it here. But instead of using social media, I use my journal. Back to basics. Take it as a wish to break free of over-reliance on social media (even if it’s just for posting a photo of a good book) for presenting my work, cultural finds and interests. These are things to be enjoyed as stand-alone pieces in a more substantial and meaningful way than showing them in the black hole of Instagram thronged with an audience with a short attention span. This is also a look through my voluminous collection of books about film that I use as research in my adamant decision to rely less and less on the online and more on more on print materials.

Read instead…in print #8.

Interviews with the director, Sergio Leone, with the screenwriter, Sergio Donati, with Bernardo Bertolucci, who wrote the story on which the script was based, with the cinematographer, Tonino Delhi Colli, with the production and costume designer, Carlo Simi, with the composer, Ennio Morricone, with the actors, Henry Fonda, Jason Robards, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, Woody Strode, Jack Elam, forward by Quentin Tarantino, words by Martin Scorsese, John Carpenter. Finely and lovingly crafted, filled with the best film stills and artworks, call sheets, production and costume sketches, images of other film influences. The passion, the hard work and the craftsmanship of everyone involved in making the film, and the way all those creative forces emerged, grab you from every page and make you wonder what the hell has happened to filmmaking today. Where is the human touch? And you just remember everything, the music, the wind blowing the tablecloths, the fly caught in the barrel of the gun, Henry Fonda’s baby blue eyes and merciless killer look, everything… This is the film whose director asked the production designer to fly to America do bring him a sample of dirt to be absolutely sure that the colour of the sets at Cinecittà perfectly matched the exterior setting of a scene shot in Monument Valley. Christopher Frayling’s Once Upon a Time in the West: Shooting a Masterpiece is a worthy book, and the definitive work, of shooting a masterpiece. This is how all books about the making of a film should look like.