Movie Journal - (Film and Culture) 2nd Edition by Jonas Mekas (Paperback)

About the Book

A new edition of the classic work that defined the aesthetics, techniques, and identity of American avant-garde film.

Book Synopsis

In his Village Voice "Movie Journal" columns, Jonas Mekas captured the makings of an exciting movement in 1960s American filmmaking. Works by Andy Warhol, Gregory J. Markapoulos, Stan Brakhage, Jack Smith, Robert Breer, and others echoed experiments already underway elsewhere, yet they belonged to a nascent tradition that only a true visionary could identify. Mekas incorporated the most essential characteristics of these films into a unique conception of American filmmaking's next phase. He simplified complex aesthetic strategies for unfamiliar audiences and appreciated the subversive genius of films that many dismissed as trash. This new edition presents Mekas's original critiques in full, with additional material on the filmmakers, film studies scholars, and popular and avant-garde critics whom he inspired and transformed.

Review Quotes

highly personal, expressive style.... the directness of Mekas's prose reads as fresh today as when it was first written.-- "Pop Matters"

[Movie Journal] is a rich trove of cinematic wisdom, an artistic time capsule of New York at a moment of crucial energy, and a reflection of controversies and struggles regarding independent filmmaking that endure to this day.--Richard Brody "The New Yorker"

A vital document of the nation's cultural crack-up, a pulsing record of a decade-plus of art experience, and the unvarnished testimony of a fanatic single-handedly trying to reshape society's idea of cinema.... There's a whole constellation that owes its existence to the advocacy and far-out ideas Mekas set out in his column, and with the republication of Movie Journal perhaps he can return to his rightful place at the center of our cinematic conversation.--Dante A. Ciampaglia "The Paris Review"

A welcome addition to the literature of film. The columns feel fresh off the page and scorchingly energetic; Mekas, still active at ninety-three, is around to add a jaunty afterword.-- "Australian Book Review"

Throughout his Movie Journal, Jonas Mekas grows to be an eminent thinker on the aesthetic importance of cinema as a perceptual art form.-- "Film Matters"

Jonas Mekas's Village Voice criticism (his 'Movie Journal') was far and away the most influential and most astute for the Sixties and Seventies for a generation of readers dissatisfied with mere commercial reviewing. Mekas dared to write for the future as well as the present, pointing to films that would endure, even if they were hidden or despised. Of course, it turned out he was right.--P. Adams Sitney

Jonas Mekas's 'Movie Journal' column was my underground bible growing up as a teenager in Baltimore, Maryland and it's still a radical, highly original call to arms against the tyranny of mainstream cinema. I am who I am today because of it.--John Waters

Jonas Mekas's 'Movie Journal' entries are as remarkable, invaluable, and original as his films. We are so lucky to have them finally back in print!--Jim Jarmusch

Smulewicz-Zucker does an excellent job chronicling the importance of Mekas as a figure in criticism, filmmaking, and alternative screening and distribution networks.--Maureen Turim

You cannot overestimate Mekas's importance as a writer, organizer, and polemicist. He is a unique and highly important figure in American film culture; his voice is eccentric and inimitable.--J. Hoberman

About the Author

Jonas Mekas is a filmmaker, critic, and poet who lives and works in Brooklyn. His "Movie Journal" column ran in the Village Voice from 1958 to 1975. In 1954, he cofounded the journal Film Culture. His major films include The Brig (1964), Walden (Diaries, Notes, Sketches) (1969), Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1971), and As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000).

Peter Bogdanovich is an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian.

Gregory Smulewicz-Zucker is the managing editor of Logos: A Journal of Modern Society and Culture.