Film Lover's Survival Book Kit (according to Craig Hammill, SMC Founder)

Dear Secret Movie Clubbers, we decided to post about 5 movie books we absolutely love. As a moviemaker (as well as a movielover), these are the books this programmer keeps returning to for information, instruction, inspiration.

SOMETHING LIKE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Akira Kurosawa

Kurosawa wrote this in the early 1980's and made the interesting choice of only telling his life story through Rashomon in 1951 (his reasons clearly stated in the book make complete sense). Like his movies and probably the man himself, the book operates on a number of amazing levels: Kurosawa very vulnerably shares personal events from his life that shaped him (namely his brother's suicide, the War, Japanese politics), warmly tells the story of his apprenticeship at Toho where he honed his craft, details his process making all his movies as director through Rashomon (including working with Mifune & Shimura) and finally offers 8 of the most helpful pages ever written to aspiring moviemakers on the CRAFT of filmmaking itself. This, along with John Huston's An Open Book, is probably the best autobiography written by a writer/director in the history of cinema.

JOHN FORD by Peter Bogdonavich

John Ford was a notoriously tough interview subject. Potentially contrarian by dint of being Irish and just a complex human being, Ford liked to play or shut down interviewers or act as if he had no idea what they were talking about as often as he would answer a question. AND YET... there are actually a number of pretty great interviews (both recorded and in print) where Ford, for whatever reason, lets his guard down and reveals a kind of intimidating intellect and awareness that confirms the poet was there all along. Just playing his cards WAY CLOSE TO THE VEST. Peter Bogdanovich's book is THE treasure trove for any moviemaker obsessed with the old master. Consisting of an article about the making of Cheyenne Autumn, an extended interview (the crown jewel) that goes from Ford's beginnings through his later movies, and finally a filmography that has some hidden Ford commentary (make sure you read it or you'll miss it), this is as close as Ford ever got to something akin to Ford on Ford. Bogdanovich, who of course would go on to become one of the key 70's filmmakers, has a talent for finding ways to ask Ford questions that actually elicit a response. What you realize immediately is that Ford, like so many directors, LOVES TO TELL STORIES. And so Bogdanovich does a great job of asking a question then getting out of the way. Though Ford is still very bristly and guarded here (especially when someone has the audacity to suggest he's an artist when Ford just wants to be thought of as a hard worker), he opens up enough to reveal he's ridiculously well-read, versed in art/painting, spirituality, and human complexity. In the end, he is the John Ford you thought he was.

JEAN RENOIR by Andre Bazin

This programmer usually just prefers to read books of interviews or autobiographies out of a desire to get to the source. But in many instances (as evidenced by this list), the best books on moviemakers turn out to be the ones where an admiring yet rigorous/plugged-in critic or film organization conducts a thorough interview with lots of backing and rich supplementary material. The Jean Renoir book by Cahiers du Cinema founder Andre Bazin is probably the best of all these books. Like the Ford/Bogdanovich book, it's comprised of several distinct sections. An appreciation by Bazin, one of the greatest of all film critics. Interviews with Renoir. Treatments, scripts, pre-production material for some of Renoir's greatest works. And then, maybe most hilariously and surprisingly now, a filmography where the young writers in the 1950's at CAHIERS-punks named Francois Truffaut, Jean Luc Godard, Claude Charbol, Jacques Rivette, among others-offer their own synopses and thoughts on Renoir's movies. The book is both THE best window into what made Renoir, the greatest of the greatest AND a wonderful snapshot of an entire film movement (the New Wave) just before it broke on the shores of international moviemaking. But let's end this with the most essential thing: Renoir's interviews here read as open, expansive, humanist, and profound as the movies themselves.

HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT

This is one of the most peculiarly brilliant books of interviews I've ever read. First, let's start off with the most important stuff: Hitchcock, unlike John Ford, has no problem sharing ALL his thoughts on moviemaking, his movies, his technique, his tricks, etc. In this book, he has the eagerness of a teenager to really dig into the importance of SUSPENSE vs SURPRISE (suspense is when you know the bomb is under the table from the beginning of the scene; surprise is when the bomb just blows up and you learn about it afterwards), how he achieved certain effects, etc. What's hilarious (in the best possible way) is that Truffaut so clearly idolized Hitchcock but wasn't really a Hitchcockian director (Truffaut's best work, for me, has always felt much more warm hearted and humanistically earnest). So there are times where the two great moviemakers feel like they're talking a bit at cross purposes. But even this proves hugely enlightening if, like this programmer, you are obsessed with both kinds of moviemaking. One of the greatest contributions to film scholarship/moviemaking apprenticeship ever written, Hitchcock/Truffaut wonderfully goes through EVERY SINGLE FILM in the director's oeuvre through his early 1960's work (so pretty damn thorough). Film school between two covers.

THE FILMS OF AKIRA KUROSAWA by Donald Richie

I debated whether to include two Kurosawa books here but in the end felt I had to. This book is just that good. This is one of those rare books (maybe unique in all of cinema) where the author got access to the filmmaker at the HEIGHT of her or his power/filmmaking run. Richie goes through all of Kurosawa's movies (through Red Beard, then other critics take over through Kurosawa's last movie Madadayo) and provides a breathtaking level of first hand info/detail on the making/structure/thoughts behind each one. And for each movie, Kurosawa usually contributes some thoughts, quotes, input so the entire book feels (in the best possible way) like a Kurosawa anatomy class. We peel back the skin and get to explore the bone/muscle/tissues/nerves. What comes across most powerfully are how important the 1st and last stages of moviemaking are to Kurosawa. The script is everything. But then he goes and edits the footage (Kurosawa, like Spielberg, Scorsese, the Coen Brothers, and only a handful of other filmmakers often acted as editor on his own movies) in a way nobody could have possibly imagined. Just a bottomless fountain of moviemaking riches for anyone who, like Kurosawa, really believes in the power of cinema. One of the secrets: it's a craft that requires relentless work, experimentation, and effort.

Written by Craig Hammill. Founder and Programmer of Secret Movie Club.