Virtuoso - by Murray Pomerance (Hardcover)
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<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>"Explores virtuosic performance in film, ranging from classical works through to contemporary productions"--<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br>Elizabeth Taylor's electrifying performance in <i>Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?</i> The milkshake scene in <i>There Will be Blood.</i> Leonardo DiCaprio's turn as Arnie in <i>What's Eating Gilbert Grape?</i> What makes these performances so special? <br/><br/>Eloquently written and engagingly laid out, Murray Pomerance answers the tough question as to what makes an exceptional, or virtuosic performance. Pomerance intensively explores virtuosic performance in film, ranging from classical works through to contemporary production, and gives serious consideration to structural problems of dramatization and production, actorial methods and tricks, and contingencies that befall performers giving stand-out moments.<br/><br/>Looking at more than 40 aspects of the virtuosic act, and using an approach based in careful meditation and discursion, <i>Virtuoso </i>moves through such themes as showing off, effacement, self-consciousness, performative collapse, spontaneity, acting as dream, acting and femininity, virtuosity and torture, secrecy, improvisation, virtuosic silence, and others; giving special attention to the labors of such figures as Fred Astaire, Johnny Depp, Marlene Dietrich, Basil Rathbone, Christopher Plummer, Leonardo DiCaprio, Alice Brady, Ethel Waters, James Mason, and dozens more. Numerous scenic virtuosities are examined in depth, from films as far-ranging as <i>Singin' in the Rain</i> and <i>The Bridge on the River Kwai, </i>and <i>My Man Godfrey</i>. As the first book about virtuosity in film performance, <i> Virtuoso</i> offers exciting new angles from which to view film both classical and contemporary.<p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br>From detailed examinations of such singular talents like James Dean and Cary Grant, to the subtler, fleeting, performative moments by virtuosos as varied as John Barrymore and Kristen Stewart, Murray Pomerance offers a new way of approaching, as well as a language for addressing, the riddling qualities of great film acting. What magic the actors explored in this book do with gesture, expression and inflexion, Pomerance does here with incisive description, analysis, and an often delightful turn of phrase.<br/>Dr. Daniel Varndell, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, University of Winchester, UK<br><br>In this extraordinary volume, Murray Pomerance acts as something like a spirit guide to the mysteries of cinematic performance. The text conjures a pageant of gestures, voices, faces and moments that exemplify virtuosity, accompanied by critical reflection that is never less than compelling. Pomerance's prose is itself virtuosic: lucid, penetrating, brilliant. It asks questions we didn't know could be asked, and never resorts to easy answers. This makes the book essential reading, not just for scholars and students of film performance, but for anyone interested in the art and magic of the cinema.<br/>Dr. Alex Clayton, Senior Lecturer in Film and Television, University of Bristol, UK<br><p/><br></br><p><b> About the Author </b></p></br></br><b>Murray Pomerance </b>is an independent scholar living in Toronto, Canada. He is the editor of the Techniques of the Moving Image series and the Horizons of Cinema series, and co-editor, with Lester D. Friedman and Adrienne L. McLean respectively, of the Screen Decades and Star Decades series. Pomerance has written, edited and co-edited several books, including <i>Cinema, If You Please</i> (2018), <i>Moment of Action </i>(2016), <i>Alfred Hitchcock's America</i> (2013), <i>The Horse who Drank the Sky: Film Experience beyond Narrative and Theory </i>(2008), and two BFI Classics on <i>Marnie </i>(2014) and <i>The Man Who Knew Too Much </i>(2016).
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