The cinema of Michael Mann : vice and vindication PDF
Preview The cinema of Michael Mann : vice and vindication
the cinema of MICHAEL MANN DIRECTORS’ CUTS Michael_Mann_pages.indb 1 4/6/13 15:10:18 Other select titles in the Directors’ Cuts series: the cinema of AKI KAURISMÄKI:authorship, bohemia, nostalgia, nation ANDREW NESTINGEN the cinema of RICHARD LINKLATER:walk, don’t run ROB STONE the cinema of BÉLA TARR:the circle closes ANDRÁS BÁLINT KOVÁCS the cinema of STEVEN SODERBERGH:indie sex, corporate lies, and digital videotape ANDREW DE WAARD & R. COLIN TATE the cinema of TERRY GILLIAM:it’s a mad world edited by JEFF BIRKENSTEIN, ANNA FROULA & KAREN RANDELL the cinema of TAKESHI KITANO:flowering blood SEAN REDMOND the cinema of THE DARDENNE BROTHERS:responsible realism PHILIP MOSLEY the cinema of MICHAEL HANEKE:europe utopia edited by BEN McCANN & DAVID SORFA the cinema of SALLY POTTER:a politics of love SOPHIE MAYER the cinema of JOHN SAYLES:a lone star MARK BOULD the cinema of DAVID CRONENBERG:from baron of blood to cultural hero ERNEST MATHIJS the cinema of JAN SVANKMAJER:dark alchemy edited by PETER HAMES the cinema of NEIL JORDAN:dark carnival CAROLE ZUCKER the cinema of LARS VON TRIER:authenticity and artifice CAROLINE BAINBRIDGE the cinema of WERNER HERZOG:aesthetic ecstasy and truth BRAD PRAGER the cinema of TERRENCE MALICK:poetic visions of america (second edition) edited by HANNAH PATTERSON the cinema of ANG LEE:the other side of the screen WHITNEY CROTHERS DILLEY the cinema of STEVEN SPIELBERG:empire of light NIGEL MORRIS the cinema of TODD HAYNES:all that heaven allows edited by JAMES MORRISON the cinema of ROMAN POLANSKI:dark spaces of the world edited by JOHN ORR & ELZBIETA OSTROWSKA the cinema of JOHN CARPENTER:the technique of terror edited by IAN CONRICH & DAVID WOODS the cinema of MIKE LEIGH:a sense of the real GARRY WATSON the cinema of NANNI MORETTI:dreams and diaries EWA MAZIERSKA & LAURA RASCAROLI the cinema of DAVID LYNCH:american dreams, nightmare visions edited by ERICA SHEEN & ANNETTE DAVISON the cinema of KRZYSZTOF KIESLOWSKI:variations on destiny and chance MAREK HALTOF the cinema of GEORGE A. ROMERO:knight of the living dead TONY WILLIAMS the cinema of KATHRYN BIGELOW:hollywood transgressor edited by DEBORAH JERMYN & SEAN REDMOND the cinema of WIM WENDERS the celluloid highway ALEXANDER GRAF Michael_Mann_pages.indb 2 4/6/13 15:10:18 the cinema of MICHAEL MANN vice and vindication Jonathan Rayner WALLFLOWER PRESS london & new york Michael_Mann_pages.indb 3 4/6/13 15:10:19 A Wallflower Press Book Published by Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893 New York • Chichester, West Sussex cup.columbia.edu Copyright © Jonathan Rayner 2013 All rights reserved. Wallflower Press® is a registered trademark of Columbia University Press A complete CIP record is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 978-0-231-16728-4 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-231-16729-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-231-85049-0 (e-book) Series design by Rob Bowden Design Cover image of Michael Mann courtesy of the Kobal Collection Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. This book is printed on paper with recycled content. Printed in the United States of America c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Michael_Mann_pages.indb 4 4/6/13 15:10:19 contents Acknowledgements vii Introduction 1 1 Mann’s Style: The Jericho Mile, LA Takedown, Miami Vice 23 2 Pursuing the Professional: Thief, Heat, Collateral 62 3 Endangering the Domestic: Manhunter, The Last of the Mohicans, The Insider 93 4 Adventures in Genre: The Keep, Ali, Public Enemies 127 5 Conclusion 161 Filmography 173 Bibliography 176 Index 182 Michael_Mann_pages.indb 5 4/6/13 15:10:19 for Sarah, ‘Cut-Throat’ Jake, ‘Serious’ Sam and ‘Mad’ Max Michael_Mann_pages.indb 6 4/6/13 15:10:19 acknowledgements This book has grown out of lengthy discussion of Michael Mann’s films with students and colleagues at several universities. I am grateful for their assistance, advice and insight, and especially to Dr T. Atkin for his comments and suggestions, all of which have helped to form and inform this study. vii Michael_Mann_pages.indb 7 4/6/13 15:10:19 Michael_Mann_pages.indb 8 4/6/13 15:10:19 INTRODUCTION Films are, above all, about something, and the question of remakes and rework- ings in the careers of major directors primarily revolves around reconsidera- tions and restatements of major thematic, ethical and moral concerns […] The fact of authorship, then, the mere tracing of recurring motifs and formal repetitions, is less important than the question of authorship, the questions and issues with which an author struggles over the course of a career. (Desser 1992: 67) Michael Mann’s work, as a director and producer within filmmaking in contemporary Hollywood and modern American television, presents audiences and followers of his career with certain ‘facts’ of authorship. His expanding oeuvre embodies a consistent thematic agenda and a recognisable stylistic palette, which together survey and depict heightened masculine endeavour, rarefied definitions of professionalism and personal validation, and the frequent union of these elements in the representation of crime. Mann’s principal connection in the popular imagination with crime and action films and police television series masks a more varied portfolio of producing, directing and screenwriting. Although the genres associated with depictions of criminal activity (television crime and police series, film noir, the gangster film, the heist movie, the prison film and police procedural drama) predominate in Mann’s output, significant departures from this perceived orthodoxy reveal the director’s themes persisting into varying generic territory: the period adventure (The Last of the Mohicans [1992]), the horror film (The Keep [1983]), the docudrama (The Insider [1998]) and the biopic (Ali [2001]). Such production facts provoke consequent authorship ‘questions.’ Mann’s relationship to genre, as with his varied creative activities in film and television and his individualistic negotiation of auteur status across several artistic roles and visual media, require detailed consideration for his place within contemporary cinema to vice and vindication 1 Michael_Mann_pages.indb 1 4/6/13 15:10:19
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