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ReFocus: The American Directors Series

ReFocus: The Films of Kelly Reichardt

By E. Dawn Hall

Format

£100.00

In stock

About this book

The first book-length study of Reichardt’s career and works

Over her multi-film career, including works like Old Joy, Meek’s Cutoff and Certain Women, the independent filmmaker Kelly Reichardt has established a highly individual perspective on questions of gender, feminism, socioeconomics and sexual orientation, set within an aesthetic framework that is guided by the low-budget techniques of ‘slow cinema’, minimalism and neorealism. In this close reading of her films and production methods, E. Dawn Hall defines Reichardt’s auteur characteristics, arguing that she offers a contemporary and sustainable model for independent filmmakers in America.

Key Features
  • Synthesizing the contemporary feminist debate surrounding auteur theory, this book explores Reichardt’s cinematic characteristics as an auteur
  • Elucidates the environmental and ecofeminist concerns in Reichardt’s films
  • Discusses Reichardt’s three experimental short films in detail
  • Includes an original interview with Reichardt

Reviews

Structured wonderfully and in a way that makes the chronological flow feel less rigid and more natural, The Films Of Kelly Reichardt is a thrilling and deeply important (and incredibly easy to read and fly right on through) meditation on a filmmaker whose import will be felt for years and generations to come.
Dawn Hall’s study of Kelly Reichardt, one of the greatest contemporary American independent directors, is most warmly welcome. Eminently readable and teachable, with a wealth of useful information on each film’s production, distribution and reception, Hall’s survey is sure to make you want to see and re-see, and to see more of, Reichardt’s richly rewarding films.
Table of contents

DedicationAcknowledgements

Kelly Reichardt as Auteur

A Closer Look: Kelly Reichardt

Precursor: River of GrassProductionA Female Centered Road MovieFeminist Counter-CinemaTaboo Topics: Post-Partum and Role ReversalsPowerless MenLiminal Existence

Growth: "Ode," "Then, A Year" and "Travis" "Ode" (1999) "Then, a Year" (2001) "Travis" (2004)

Discovery: Old Joy Production Complicating Masculinity Politics and Personal Identity Inserting the Feminine

Breakthrough:Wendy and Lucy ProductionNeo-Neorealism Gender and the Narrative of Homelessness Social Realism and the At-Risk vs. the Can-do Girl Ecofeminist Concerns

Expectations: Meek's Cutoff The Real Story of Meek Production SoundQuestions of Genre: Feminist WesternSlow Cinema and Neo-Neorealism"Politicking," Race, and Violence The Open Image in Slow Cinema

Expansion: Night Moves ProductionSound Denying ExpectationsPolitical ConnectionsHistorical Implications: OklahomaEarth Liberation Front (ELF)Maternity and Post FeminismA Character Study

Solidificaton: Certain WomenProductionAdaptation: Lost Characters and Open Endings

An Interview with Kelly Reichardt

Filmography

Bibliography

About the author

E. Dawn Hall

E. Dawn Hall is a professor in the English Department at Western Kentucky University.

More in this series

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