Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Boston, Little, Brown [1965]
Description
I Lost it at the Movies is vintage Kael on such classics of post-War cinema asOn the Waterfront, Smiles of a Summer Night, West Side Story, The Seven Samurai, Lolita, Jules et Jim etc. Her comments are so fresh and direct, it's as if the movies had only been released last week.
Media reviews
Esquire
A reviewer has called this the best book of American movie criticism since Agee on Film (1958) and he may be right. At least I can’t think of anything better in that interim. (Not that, as I’m sure the author would be the first to agree, there’s been much competition.) It is exhilarating to
Miss Kael is as ungenerous toward other critics as she is obsessed by them. She appears to consider them, almost without exception, as either rivals or butts or, usually, both. As if her security depended on eliminating all rivals to the throne... Kael’s admiration and respect are for my moral rather than my mental qualities, since, of the thirteen references to me in the index, five are neutral while eight are hostile and, in most cases, unfair... Maybe I Lost It At The Movies isn’t as good a book as I thought it was when I began this review. And the hell with that “respect and admiration.
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come across film criticism that is both sophisticated and readable, lively without being nutty. A book, as they say, that it is hard to put down. In both senses. Miss Kael writes with wit, clarity and precision (the flip title is a lapse - and what did she lose at the movies ? ) ; she is sensible and she knows her subject thoroughly. She is good at generalizing: the two long essays that open the book are full of original and, in my view, accurate ideas on the aesthetics and sociology of today’s movies and their audiences and critics...Miss Kael is as ungenerous toward other critics as she is obsessed by them. She appears to consider them, almost without exception, as either rivals or butts or, usually, both. As if her security depended on eliminating all rivals to the throne... Kael’s admiration and respect are for my moral rather than my mental qualities, since, of the thirteen references to me in the index, five are neutral while eight are hostile and, in most cases, unfair... Maybe I Lost It At The Movies isn’t as good a book as I thought it was when I began this review. And the hell with that “respect and admiration.
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New York Times
I am not certain just what Miss Kael thinks she lost at the movies, but it was assuredly neither her wit nor her wits. Her collected essays confirm what those of us who have encountered them separately over the last few years, mostly in rather small journals, have suspected—that she is the
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sanest, saltiest, most resourceful and least attitudinizing movie critic currently in practice in the United States...
That she is able to analyze her instinct so well and so wittily and to convey its findings without the slightest sense of strain makes her criticism seem like art itself, something of a mystery and something of a miracle. In the end, one is a little awed by the mystery, more than a little grateful for the miracle. Miss Kael may have lost something at the movies, but in her book we have found something—the critic the movies have deserved and needed for so long. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member delphica
(book 23 in the 2008 challenge)
This is a collection of her early, pre-New Yorker, writings about film. I have always been a Pauline Kael fan. I love the way she writes about movies -- even when I don't agree with her, or have no idea what she's talking about, it makes me excited about film and I
Grade: A-
Recommended: For the film geekery set, although I will note that despite her protestations, her focus is on movies that we would now categorize as artsy or academic films with some notable exceptions. This is probably not a bad choice if you feel nostalgic about your Intro to Film History classes in college.
This is a collection of her early, pre-New Yorker, writings about film. I have always been a Pauline Kael fan. I love the way she writes about movies -- even when I don't agree with her, or have no idea what she's talking about, it makes me excited about film and I
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find myself wanting to watch Last Year at Marienbad again (which normally is the kind of idea that should make you say OH FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, NO.) just to see particular things she is talking about. All of that said, in many ways the woman was a raving lunatic, and that also comes through. I'm torn over whether or not to include some specific examples of her kookiness, mostly involving homosexuality but some real gems on race as well, because I worry that the fun of pointing and laughing at the crazy lady (and to be fair, some of it no doubt seemed less demented in the late 1950s/early 1960s) would overshadow her truly perceptive exploration of the movies and American culture. Grade: A-
Recommended: For the film geekery set, although I will note that despite her protestations, her focus is on movies that we would now categorize as artsy or academic films with some notable exceptions. This is probably not a bad choice if you feel nostalgic about your Intro to Film History classes in college.
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LibraryThing member Paperpuss
No one one writes about movies the way Pauline did.
LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
Pauline Kael was an esteemed film critic who was fortunate to be alive for the best times for big budget and moderately intelligent American films. Like a lot of americans she lost her "innocence" at the films, and this anthology ranges from 1654 to 1964. she used these criticisms to become the
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film maven at the New Yorker, which in those days meant something. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Notable Books List (1965)
Language
Original publication date
1965-03
Physical description
ix, 365 p.; 22 cm