On February 29, local time in the United States, the famous film scholar David Bordwell passed away due to illness at the age of 76.
On April 4, 2014, David Bordwell attended the press conference of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Newcomer Film Competition Jury. Visual China Map
Bordwell has written many film studies either independently or co-authored with his wife Kristin Thompson, such as "A History of World Cinema", "Film Art: Form and Style", "Hollywood Narrative" "Tao: Story and Style in Modern Films" and "Film Poetics" have long been regarded as classics by generations of film fans and readers.
"History of World Cinema"
"Film Art: Form and Style"
"Hollywood Narrative: Story and Style in Modern Films"
"Film Poetics"
He was in "Hong Kong Film Kingdom" (the old version was translated as " The book "Secrets of Hong Kong Movies" quoted from the New York Times film review article "It's all over the top, it's all crazy" has long become a favorite phrase used by the world when studying and evaluating Hong Kong films. In addition, he has also produced featurettes and commentary tracks for the Criterion Collection DVD, which is much talked about by movie fans all year round, and has made great contributions to the popularization of film culture.
"Hong Kong Movie Kingdom"
David Bordwell was born in New York State, USA on July 23, 1947. According to his own introduction, because the farm run by his family was far away in the countryside, he had no chance to go to the city to watch movies when he was a child. I can only watch some old Hollywood movies on the TV. "But I have read a lot of books about movies since I was 12 years old, and I became very interested in movies. But at that time, there were very few books about movies, and most of them were books about the history of movies. In addition, I also read film reviews, including film review columns in fashion magazines, as well as specialized magazines such as Film Quarterly, Film, and Film Culture. At the age of 16, I got my driver's license and could finally drive to a nearby city to watch new movies. Foreign films were released. So I watched Fellini's "Eight and a Half" and many Orson Welles films. In my spare time, I also tried to make my own 8mm films." After
, he Entering the State University of New York at Albany to major in English, I originally planned to be a high school Chinese teacher, but I still had trouble letting go of my strong interest in movies. Especially during college, he organized campus film screening clubs and was exposed to a large number of Hollywood classics and the latest foreign art films, and finally decided to change his life plan. "In the fall of 1965, I saw Kenji Mizoguchi's "Sansho" at the Bleecker Street Cinema in New York City and was deeply moved. I wanted to know more about this movie and even the movie itself, so I applied to Iowa at the same time. University and New York University in related fields."
Eventually, he was admitted to the University of Iowa. After completing the graduate program, he joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison and served as a faculty member in the Department of Communication Arts for a long time until his retirement in 2004.
Throughout his life, Bordwell wrote, co-authored or edited about 22 books, including special treatises on individual directors, such as "The Films of Dreyer", "Ozu and the Poetics of Film", "The Films of Eisenstein" ", etc., there are also "Secrets of Hong Kong Films" and "The Classical Hollywood Cinema" which focus on different countries' film styles and film production models, and there is also an introductory film study textbook "Film Art" co-written with his wife Thompson : Form and Style. The book was first published in 1979 and has been updated and republished many times since then. It has been translated into more than a dozen languages and has a huge influence.
In addition, the couple also started a pioneering personal blog called "Observations on Film Art" in the Internet era, analyzing film theories and introducing movie-watching experiences. They were very busy. Bordwell's last post on the blog was from February 26, three days before his death.The article introduces the selection of director Hou Hsiao-hsien's works that will be launched on Criterion's online platform in March, emphasizing that these films are rarely seen in the West, "but for those who appreciate his later works, these films are absolutely necessary to watch." ——As early as the 1990s, I made a special trip to Brussels and Taipei to watch the film versions of these films."
After the news of Bordwell's death came out, a large number of film scholars and film critics around the world expressed condolences in various ways, including the famous Hollywood screenwriter David Cape and producer James Summers. People also sincerely thanked Bordwell on social media for his contribution to the popularization of film art.
Damien Chazelle, the director of "Crackpot" and "La La Land" even said, "I learned more about film from David Bordwell than from anywhere else. To me, he is the American André Bazin...he combines film theory with film criticism in a completely new way. His book "Film Narrative" changed my view of stories. ; His book "Figures Traced in Light" changed my view on framing; his "Hollywood Narrative Methods" changed my view on Hollywood. He is a Giant, generations of filmmakers, film critics and film theorists (in the final analysis, we are all the same kind of people), all owe him a lot."
The author previously worked as an editor at the "Water Bund Pictorial" weekly, and worked with Bordwell had two encounters. One time, he wanted to publish an interesting article on his personal blog about the experience of sitting in the front row of a theater to watch a movie. He sent a letter asking if he could authorize it and how to pay for it. He quickly replied, happily agreed, and said he had no intention of charging royalties. The other time was in the planned interview feature with film critics, which also included Bordwell. He revealed in the interview that his favorite director is Ozu Yasujiro, but he has no particular favorite film critic; as for his multiple identities as a film critic, professor, and writer, he still "likes teaching and writing the most," especially after retirement. Writing on the film blog gives me a lot of fun”.
