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Wesleyan Film
Paul on Mazursky
Conversations with one of America's funniest filmmakers
Paul Mazursky's nearly twenty films as writer/director represent Hollywood's most sustained comic expression of the 1970s and 1980s. But they have not been given their due, perhaps because Mazursky's films―both sincere and ridiculous, realistic and romantic―are pure emotion. This makes films like Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, An Unmarried Woman, and Enemies, A Love Story difficult to classify, but that's what makes a human comedy human. In the first ever book-length examination of one of America's most important and least appreciated filmmakers, Sam Wasson sits down with Mazursky himself to talk about his movies and how he makes them. Going over Mazursky's oeuvre one film at a time, interviewer and interviewee delve into the director's life in and out of Hollywood, laughing, talking, and above all else, feeling―like Mazursky's people always do. The book includes a filmography and never-before-seen photos.
Paul Mazursky's nearly twenty films as writer/director represent Hollywood's most sustained comic expression of the 1970s and 1980s. But they have not been given their due, perhaps because Mazursky's films―both sincere and ridiculous, realistic and romantic―are pure emotion. This makes films like Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, An Unmarried Woman, and Enemies, A Love Story difficult to classify, but that's what makes a human comedy human. In the first ever book-length examination of one of America's most important and least appreciated filmmakers, Sam Wasson sits down with Mazursky himself to talk about his movies and how he makes them. Going over Mazursky's oeuvre one film at a time, interviewer and interviewee delve into the director's life in and out of Hollywood, laughing, talking, and above all else, feeling―like Mazursky's people always do. The book includes a filmography and never-before-seen photos.
- GenresFilm
348 pages, Hardcover
First published August 15, 2011
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About the author
Sam Wasson
9 books210 followersSAM WASSON is the author of the New York Times bestseller Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M .: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman and two works of film criticism. He is a visiting professor of film at Wesleyan University.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 5, 2021
It’s hard to imagine someone reading this and not wanting to just live in it forever, even if Paul at times is as insufferable as his characters. (Who among us?) Somehow Paul is able to weave together stories just like his films that play as satire and nostalgic elegy at the same time. Akin to Renoir’s “everyone has their reasons” bit, I guess, or Forsyth’s chill mix of dyspeptic warmth. Maybe the difference btwn them is Renoir and Forsyth’s approach is that of a God like generosity/benevolence, where with Mazursky you get the feeling that the only thing he knows for sure is that he’s just as lonely and insufferably narcissistic and open to satire as his characters, a mere mortal. Just beyond the frame, there’s no reason to think Paul wouldn’t be in the mix with his gallery of tragically hip beautiful fools
May 22, 2023
A fascinating look at a lost figure in the New Hollywood era -- a true auteur journeyman if there ever was one. Sam Wasson did his homework and I have no idea where he sourced most of this shit from, but power to him. RIP Paul
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews