The Cinema of Richard Linklater - (Directors' Cuts) 2nd Edition by Rob Stone (Paperback)

About the Book

In this second edition of The Cinema of Richard Linklater, Rob Stone shows how Linklater's latest films have redefined our understanding of his work, offering critical analysis of films including Before Midnight (2013) and Everybody Wants Some!! (2016), as well as new interviews with Linklater and a chapter on Boyhood (2014).

Book Synopsis

From Slacker (1991), a foundational work of independent American cinema, to the Before trilogy, Richard Linklater's critically acclaimed films and aesthetic ambition have earned him a place as one of the most important contemporary directors. In this second edition of The Cinema of Richard Linklater, Rob Stone shows how Linklater's latest films have redefined our understanding of his work. He offers critical discussions and analysis of all of Linklater's films, including Before Midnight (2013) and Everybody Wants Some!! (2016), as well as new interviews with Linklater and a chapter on Boyhood (2014), hailed as one of the best films of the twenty-first century.

Stone explores the theoretical, practical, contextual, and metaphysical elements in Linklater's filmography, especially his experimentation with cinematic representations of time and growth. He demonstrates that fanciful lives and lucid dreams are as central as alternative notions of America and time to Linklater's films. Stone also considers Linklater's collaborative working practices, his deployment of such techniques as rotoscoping, and his innovative distribution strategies. Thoroughly revised, updated, and extended, the book includes analysis of all of Linklater's films, including Dazed and Confused (1993), Waking Life (2011), and A Scanner Darkly (2006) as well as his documentaries, short films, and side projects.

Review Quotes

Rob Stone explores the elements that connect Linklater's films with each other and the ways in which they represent a particular perspective as this is associated with the filmmaker's philosophy. Through recourse to key theoretical and philosophical approaches, the use of thematic analysis and extensive interviews with Linklater himself, Stone provides thought provoking discussions of his numerous films...The Cinema of Richard Linklater is a theoretically powerful and analytically rigorous study.--Yannis Tzioumakis, University of Liverpool

This book presents a careful reading of every film by Linklater, and considers the filmmaker's work through various theoretical concepts, using each to elucidate and contextualize Linklater's work. Linklater, Stone argues, harbors a commitment to several key themes, a particular aesthetic and a point of view that remains consistent across more than two decades...This book is written with authority, clarity, precision and a full awareness of contemporary conversations related to cinema.--Holly Willis, University of Southern California

Written with his trademark balance of intellectual rigor and entertainment, Stone's updated volume provides the perfect scholarly accompaniment to Linklater's films, not only offering exceptional analyses of those films that have come out since the publication of the first edition, but also using these films as a filter to cast new light on his older work.--Paul Cooke, University of Leeds

About the Author

Rob Stone is professor of film studies at the University of Birmingham. He is the author of Julio Medem (2007); coauthor of Basque Cinema: A Cultural and Political History (2015); and coeditor of The Unsilvered Screen: Surrealism on Film (2007), Screening Songs in Hispanic and Lusophone Cinema (2012), A Companion to Luis Buñuel (2013), and The Routledge Companion to World Cinema (2018), among others.