In response to the resurgence of Danish film; this book presents a collection of indepth interviews with 19 of Denmarks finest filmmakers. Profiling the canonized figures alongside recentlyestablished filmmakers; this collection features interviews with Lars von Trier; Soslash;ren KraghJacobsen; Thomas Vinterberg and Henning Carlsen among many others. It poses questions that engage with ongoing and controversial issues within film studies; which will stimulate debate in academic and filmgoing circles alike. Each interview is preceded by a photograph of the director; biographical information; and a filmography. Frame enlargements are used throughout to help clarify particular points of discussion and the book as a whole is contextualised by an informative general introduction. A valuable addition to the growing library of books on Scandinavian film; national cinema and minority cinema.
2011-06-01 2011-06-01File Name: B01A27TM40
Review
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful. This book title is misleadingBy Avid readerThis book is entitled "Dandies;" and; with the monocled and waistcoated Lady Troubridge on the cover; one expects an investigation on dandyism in the Western sense. Sadly; this is not the case. This book should have been named; "Sartorial display: a look at dressing up across genders and cultures." It could have been given a number of different titles; but to use the English word "dandy" misleads would-be readers. The book attempts to redefine/broaden the definition of "dandyism;" which; in Western culture; is restricted almost exclusively to the 19th century and to males. In addition; dandyism is not simply dressing up in a particular fashion--dandyism implies a whole analysis of attitude; economics and lifestyle. The essays wander into Native American dress and well into the twentieth century. There is discussion of Coco Chanel; George Sand and the Romaine Brooks set; which describe the appropriation of male Western dress. This is indeed food for thought. Nevertheless; one expects writers who write on dandyism to be thoroughly versed in the history of the dandy in his original 19th century form. In one essay; there is an illustration of sheet music from 1843 with an accompanying illustration of a man in "dandified dress." To look at this image (with the chin-framing beard; black neckcloth; waist-nipped silhouette and broad-lapelled tailcoat) and *not* mention the signature trend-setting styles of Count Alfred dOrsay--extremely famous in his day as the international fashion leader and masculine beauty icon of the 1830s and 1840s--strikes the scholar of dandyism as astounding in its omission. All in all; this book is an anthropological inquiry into dress with its implications of class; gender and race in historical/cultural context. It is not; however; an analysis of dandyism by any stretch. For cultural anthropologists; this book certainly has its place; but for scholars of dandyism; one should examine the classic writings of Carlyle; Baudelaire; dAurevilly and the 20th century Moers.
