Spanning from obscurity to notoriety, the films of director, screenwriter, actor and comic Elaine May have recently experienced a long-overdue renaissance. Although she made only four films — A New Leaf (1971), The Heartbreak Kid (1972), Mikey and Nicky (1976) and Ishtar (1987) — and never reached the level of acclaim of her frequent collaborator Mike Nichols, May's work is as enigmatic, sophisticated and unceasingly fascinating as her own complicated, reluctant star persona. This collection focuses both on the films she has directed, and also emphasises her work with other high profile collaborators such as John Cassavetes, Warren Beatty and Otto Preminger.
- 260 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF
ReFocus: The Films of Elaine May
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Subtopic
Film & VideoTable of contents
- ReFocus: The Films of Elaine May
- Copyright
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Who’s Kidding?-Approaching Elaine May
- part 1 Beginnings
- 1 Teenagers on Stage-The Comedy of Elaine May and Mike Nichols
- Part 2 Critically Situating Elaine May
- 2 Hollywood Can’t Wait: Elaine May and the Delusions of 1970s American Cinema
- 3 Dangerous Business-Elaine May as Existential Improviser
- Part 3 Elaine May’s Films as Director
- 4 Kneeling on Glass-Elaine May’s A New Leaf (1971) as Screwball Black Comedy
- 5 “Don’t Put A Milky Way in Someone’s Mouth When They Don’t Want It”: A Contemporary Feminist Rereading of Elaine May’s The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
- 6 Mikey and Nicky (1976)-Elaine May and the Cassavetes Connection
- 7 Cartographies of Catastrophe-Elaine May’s Ishtar (1987)
- Part 4 Collaborations/Revelations
- 8 In/Significant Gestures-Elaine May, Screen Performance, and Embodied Collaboration
- 9 Otto É. May(zo)-Elaine May’s Screenplay of Otto Preminger’s Such Good Friends (1971) as Affirmation that Hell is Other People
- 10 Spectral Elaine May-The Later Mike Nichols Collaborations and the Myth of the Recluse
- Conclusion
- 11 interview with allie hagan When in Doubt, Seduce: An Interview with Screenwriter Allie Hagan
- Bibliography
- Index
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Yes, you can access ReFocus: The Films of Elaine May by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas,Dean Brandum in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Media & Performing Arts & Film & Video. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.