Todd Haynes: Rapturous Process [Museum of the Moving Image]

by Michael Koresky, Julianne Moore, Todd Haynes

One of American cinema's truly singular artists, Todd Haynes has been creating nuanced, complex films of varying modes and genres for five decades. Whether deconstructing the women's melodrama in films like  Safe and Far from Heaven, transforming the conventions of the biopic in I'm Not There, or giving a transgressive jolt to cinematic convention with such queer landmarks as Poison and Velvet Goldmine, Haynes has proven time and again that the craft of cinema can be elusive, richly emotional, and intellectually ambitious in equal measure. His latest film, May December, pushes his artistry into new realms, transforming ripped-from-the-headlines scandal into a brilliant meditation on human identity. Published upon the occasion of Museum of the Moving Image’s 2023 retrospective and exhibit exploring the work of Todd Haynes, this book features a foreword by Julianne Moore; an in-depth career interview with Haynes by the Centre Pompidou's Judith Revault d'Allonnes; an essay by Michael Koresky; a conversation with Kelly Reichardt; and hundreds of images of items donated to the Museum by Haynes from his personal archives—including drawings, paintings, and storyboards, as well as notebook fragments, on-set photographs, and costume and set designs. Todd Rapturous Process is a testament to a filmmaker's astonishing creativity and ceaseless ingenuity.

200 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2023

Reviews

[John Bleasdale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent

[Nicholas Sokić · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of Haynes' films, I've only seen I'm Not There, May December and his Velvet Underground doc (the best one of 2021). I'm familiar with a good chunk of the rest of his filmography, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Still when I visited the Museum of the Moving Image on vacation I thought it would be an excellent souvenir, and now I have a pretty good reason beyond the obvious to watch the rest of his films.

The book itself is obviously a treasure - the archival images that make up the bulk of the book would be worth it alone. But Koresky's essay and interviews with Haynes do what the best books about art do: Deepen your understanding of an artist without trying to answer all your questions. Kind of like his Dylan movie.

Also, the interview with Haynes and Kelly Reichardt, another undersung American master, is the perfect cap to the book.