Author Description

With the release of films like The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and That Obscure Object of Desire, Luis Buñuel at last received the recognition from Americans that he had always had from Europeans and Latin Americans. This handsomely illustrated anthology presents an international cross-section of criticism and features several articles translated from Spanish and French for the first time. Represented here are such Buñuel aficionados as Carlos Fuentes, the Mexican novelist; Tony Richardson, the British director; Henry Miller, who appreciated the films of Buñuel as long ago as the 1920s; Buñuel’s surrealist admirers in Paris, Ado Kyrou, Louis Seguin, and Marcel Martin; and American critics ranging from Pauline Kael to John Simon. There are several articles by Buñuel himself, and a Buñuel filmography. The book offers a penetrating look at the many Buñuels – surrealist, Marxist, Freudian, post-Freudian, anarchist, and rebel. It follows the master from his boyhood in the Basque provinces of Spain to his early filmmaking years in Paris and Mexico to his secure position at the time of publication as the master of the European film and “father” of such younger directors as Bernardo Bertolucci and Lina Wertmuller. “The work is commensurate with the standards already established by Joan Mellen for panache and timeliness. I find especially useful the translations from the special Buñuel issue of Cine Cubano and the back numbers of Positif, and the section from the neglected book by Carlos Rebolledo. In short, it is a very useful anthology.” – Michael Silverman, Director, Film Studies, Brown University.