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The New American Crime Film
The most pervasive genre in contemporary cinema, the American crime film has recently enjoyed a new surge of popularity and proliferation. Though these innovative films now tackle topical issues, they continue to reference the classic narratives and archetypes established in the great crime pictures of past decades. The titles explored in this critical survey span many themes that have fused with other genres to create fascinating filmic hybrids. Focusing on character and plot construction, the author highlights the gangster and film noir traditions that still run strongly through recent American cinema.
Among the many filmmakers analyzed within these pages are David Lynch, Gus Van Sant, David Mamet, Werner Herzog, Sam Raimi, David Cronenberg and the Coen Brothers. Stuart Gordon, director of the cult classic Re-Animator, provides the lively and incisive foreword.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface Forward by Stuart Gordon Introduction:Â Â Â Â Â Why Genre, and Why the New Crime Film has Arrived
PART 1: New Break-Ins ONE:Â Â Say Hello to the New Heist: Spike Lee's Inside Man
TWO:Â Â Paranoia Reemerging: Tony Gilroy's Michael Clayton
THREE:Â Â Scandalous Notes: The "Feminized" Crime of Notes on a Scandal
FOUR:Â Â Searching the Wasteland: Debra Granik's Winter's Bone
FIVE:  Teen Crime and Redemption: Gus Van Sant's Elephant and Paranoid Park   PART 2: Darkest Regions SIX:  Night of the Hunters: David Fincher and the New Serial Killer Film
SEVEN:Â Â Crime and Suffering: Stuart Gordon's Edmond and Stuck
EIGHT:Â Â In a World of "Shit": Crime Motifs in Fast Food Nation
NINE:Â Â Noir and True Crime: The Films of Andrew Jarecki
TEN:  "Now It's Dark": David Lynch's Crime Nightmares   PART 3: The Oldschool Goes New ELEVEN:  The Bloody Frontier: Tommy Lee Jones' Weary Avenger
TWELVE:Â Â New Paths to Justice: Clint Eastwood's Late-Career Crime Films
THIRTEEN:Â Â Woody Allen's Match(ed) Point: The Crime of Class
FOURTEEN:Â Â David Mamet: Crime, Power, and Perspective
FIFTEEN:  New Ganglands: The Journey to Public Enemies and American Gangster   PART 4: Triumphant Getaways SIXTEEN:  The Coen Uncanny: from Blood Simple to No Country for Old Men
SEVENTEEN:Â Â From the Body Outward: The New Crimes of David Cronenberg
EIGHTEEN:Â Â Reclaiming the Renegade Cop: Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
NINTEEN:  Sam Raimi's A Simple Plan: A Triumph of Classicism   Chapter Notes Index Acknowledgments