Promotional Information

This brilliant account of the Dardenne brothers' cinema is immediately the standard Anglophone text on these most important filmmakers. The Dardennes' politically engaged social realism and their concern with the pauperized victims of global capital are beautifully complemented by the precise lucidity of the author's prose, the nuance of his textual analysis, and his provocative but non-dogmatic social theory. -- David James, University of Southern California Not only an excellent introduction to the Dardenne brothers' films but also a lucid exposition of the historical and intellectual frameworks in which their social realism can be evaluated. This includes a detailed account of how their work has developed against the destructive forces of industrial decline and globalisation in Belgium, while explaining how their filmmaking can be understood in terms of major contemporary philosophical currents. -- Felix Thompson, University of Derby, UK

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 1. Responsible Realists 2. Cinematic Reference Points 3. The Video Documentaries, 1974-83: In the Beginning Was the Resistance; The Nightingale's Song; When Leon M.'s Boat First Sailed down the River Meuse; For the War to End, the Walls Had to Crumble; R... No Longer Answers; Lessons from a University on the Fly; Look at Jonathan; Jean Louvet, His Work 4. Foraying into Fiction, 1986-92: Falsch; They're Running ... Everyone's Running; You're on My Mind 5. Breakthrough: The Promise, 1996 6. First Palme d'Or: Rosetta, 1999 7. Pushing the Envelope: The Son, 2002 8. Second Palme d'Or: The Child, 2005 9. A Minor Shift: The Silence of Lorna, 2008 Afterword: The Kid with a Bike, 2011 Filmography Bibliography Index

About the Author

Philip Mosley is professor of English and comparative literature at the Pennsylvania State University. He is the author of many works, including Split Screen: Belgian Cinema and Cultural Identity (2001) and a translation from French of The Book of the Snow by Francois Jacqmin, which was shortlisted for the 2011 Griffin Poetry Prize.

Reviews

A brilliant account of the Dardenne brothers' cinema... their politically engaged social realism and concern with the pauperized victims of global capital are beautifully complemented by the precise lucidity of the author's prose, the nuance of his textual analysis, and his provocative but non-dogmatic social theory. -- David James, University of Southern California An excellent introduction to the Dardenne brothers' films but also a lucid exposition of the historical and intellectual frameworks in which their social realism can be evaluated. This volume also explains how their filmmaking can be understood in terms of major contemporary philosophical currents. -- Felix Thompson, University of Derby, UK A comprehensive overview. -- Melina Gils Film Quarterly