Review: Reading the Silver Screen: A Film Lover's Guide to Decoding the Art Form That Moves

Reading the Silver Screen: A Film Lover's Guide to Decoding the Art Form That Moves by Thomas C. Foster
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Foster delivers another lively and engaging book on making sense out of storytelling. The focus of this book is on analyzing movies and much like his previous books (How to Read Literature Like a Professor and How to Read Novels Like a Professor: A Jaunty Exploration of the World's Favorite Literary Form), Foster wants readers (and listeners) to realize that analysis is not that hard to do and often is rewarding by enhancing one's experience. In that way, his tone, easy-going manner, and willingness to take on popular texts makes his book valuable for anyone wanting to teach or learn about these subjects. Even if you've read previous books of his, this one still has some gems and will likely build upon those previous books than just repeat them. What I particularly like about this book is that it forgoes the traditional "let's start with the history of movies" and just picks a handful of films to focus in on, which are accessible to the reader/listener and likely, easy to find. Within those films and others routinely referenced, he tries to break down what can be gained by looking a little bit past the initial viewing. He does this with everything from Mad Max: Fury Road to Star Wars to The Maltese Falcon to American Sniper. In doing so, he shows how these things work throughout a range of genres, styles, and times in cinematic history. And while he's a bit strong Woody Allen fan, which can feel a little less admirable at this juncture (the book was published prior to 2014), he commands a firm grasp of how to guide readers in unpacking films by moving from the shot to the genre and everything in-between. Foster's work proves helpful for those looking to get more out of their films or just get a sense of what film critics talk about when offering reviews.

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