THE STORY OF FILM: AN ODYSSEY (2011) **** Filmmaker/historian Mark Cousins' brilliant examination of the dawning age of filmmaking, cinema's long history and the future of the art form is told in 15 hour long chapters (paging TCM/HBO to broadcast ASAP!) detailing every genre and practically every geographical location that has partaken in the experience of movie making – from Hollywood's silent era thru the advent of sound and the rise of European, Japanese, Russian, African et al. international productions to the influences of its American compatriots encompassing everyone from Chaplin and Disney thru Ford and Scorsese. Independent, art house, big budget extravaganzas, experimental shorts and all types of hybrids are depicted as well as an uncanny knack for cutting from one extreme to the next with unerring expertise in Cousins' whispered-to-your-ear cadence of what is unfolding in the filmmaker's quest to connect with the universal audience. Various filmmakers are interviewed as well showcasing their influences and expertise. I implore you to seek this informatively educational valentine to the greatest art form known to mankind by all means necessary in the wake of Cousins' attempt for a distributor. One of the most important documentaries on film as a medium as a whole. One of the best films' ever concocted with over 1,000 titles sampled
Review of The Story of Film: An Odyssey
Herculean effort in giving historical context to the advent of filmmaking; a must see for all cinephiles!
6 February 2012
Warning: Spoilers