How to Watch a Movie

by David Thomson

I have to admit I bought this book at random; I was browsing the Kindle store when I should have been doing some reading for this course. I guess buying another book by David Thomson made me feel like I had done some work – if only life was so easy.

However, I’m glad I did I have been in the UK for an extended period due to the death of my mum and while I have tried to use the time I wasn’t working to focus on the course, however, other events and overshadowed my plans. So on a quiet day, I picked up this book on what was my mums Kindle Paperwhite, and I read it from cover to cover in every spare moment I had (I’m not the fastest reader).

The films covered by Thomson take on every aspect of cinema and uses – what I would call real world films to explain his point and guide the reader to appreciate the art and manipulation of a film. I particularly enjoyed how he explained how the choice of Janet Leigh as Marion Crane makes the film much more believable, and if they had chosen the other star of the days such as Kim Novak or Audry Hepburn. Not something I would say often but I want to read this book again.