Essential Cinema: On the Necessity of Film Canons Hardcover - 2004

Jonathan Rosenbaum is arguably the most insightful and informed film critic working today. In Essential Cinema he gathers together twenty years of writing to explore the idea of--and the need for--a film canon. Though the idea may be unfashionable, particularly within the academy, Rosenbaum argues that a canon of great and near-great films is vital if we are to understand film as an art. Featuring a new afterword with an updated list of favorite films, this is an essential book for film students, film scholars, and film buffs.

A virtuoso collection by one of the finest film critics currently active . . . There's nothing here that won't enrich the reader in some way. If you have seen the film already, you will see it better. If you haven't seen it, you will want to.--The Times of London

Rosenbaum's passionate, thoughtful, and richly informed advocacy of the films he cares about earns this book a place on any cinephile's shelf . . . Rosenbaum, an enormously erudite and deeply reflective viewer unbeholden to academic norms and taboos, is ideally positioned to propose a canon of great works . . . An essential guide.--Boston Globe

Accessible without being dumbed down . . . Filled with perceptive insights and fascinating juxtapositions . . . A closing list of 1,000 favorite films is sure to spark debate among cineastes while offering a long checklist of films to watch.--Publishers Weekly

Every essay demonstrates Rosenbaum's fervent dedication to the cinema and, more important, that he has the knowledge and insight to support his impassioned opinions.--Booklist

Jonathan Rosenbaum is one of the most invested voices in writing about movies. When there's a subject he's spent decades thinking on, he's nonpareil.--Newcity

This is a road map for anyone who cares about discovering new cinematic terrain.--Choice

Jonathan Rosenbaum is film critic for the Chicago Reader and the author or editor of fourteen books, including Movie Wars: How Hollywood and the Media Limit What Films We Can See, Movies as Politics, and Placing Movies: The Practice of Film Criticism.