The director's vision A concise guide to the art of 250 great filmmakers

This is a frustrating volume. As film editor of London's Time Out and programmer of London's National Film Theatre, Andrew is a gifted critic. He provides trenchant observations about the directors assembled here, but he's limited by his form. Arranged alphabetically by director, entries come with partial filmographies and See Also references to similar filmmakers. About a third of each entry discusses a film still that supposedly exemplifies the style of the director in question. These stills--like the directors chosen for inclusion here--are generally well considered, and Andrew should be congratulated for his coverage of African, Asian, and Central European directors. But because each entry is limited to approximately 300 words, we get only the most tantalizing of generalizations. As a result, the book succeeds as neither a reference work nor a lavish coffee-table book. It is simply too concise to be of any great value for libraries.--Neal Baker, Earlham Coll., Richmond, IN (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.