From a tome on director's clothing, an academic masterpiece on Yasujiro Ozu and soon-to-be adapted novels, here are the books you should read this summer.
How Directors Dress (A24)
“The clothing worn by a director is so personal and holds such an intimate physical space, that it has a great deal to tell us, if we let the clothes themselves do the talking,” writes Charlie Porter, in his introduction to How Directors Dress. A compendium of writing on the sartorial choices of filmmakers, from Sofia Coppola’s Charvet shirts to David Lynch’s suits, the book includes a foreword by Joanna Hogg and an afterword by Yohji Yamamoto.
Philippa Snow, Trophy Lives (MACK)
“Jude Law is looking at art. I am looking at Jude Law.” This quotation from Alex Jung’s Variety interview with Jude Law opens Philippa Snow’s Trophy Lives, a series of essays examining celebrities as artworks and artists as celebrities. Discussing figures such as Paris Hilton and Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeff Koons and Marina Abramovic, Snow’s high-low criticism explores how celebrity intersects with themes of beauty, time and death.
Eleanor Coppola, Notes: The Making of Apocalypse Now (Faber)
In the Spring of 1976, Eleanor Coppola and her family left their home in California and headed to the Philippines, where her husband, Francis, would go on to shoot Apocalypse Now. Coppola wrote about this experience, its demands and insights in a memoir, beloved by film fans. “I hear there are some real cadavers in body bags at the Kurtz Compound set,” writes Eleanor Coppola, who passed away earlier this year.
Françoise Sagan, Bonjour Tristesse
A sensation when it was published in 1954, Bonjour Tristesse is a sun-drenched tale of female sexuality set on the French Riviera. 17 year-old Cécile holidays with her father and his new girlfriend, a liaison which she gets mixed up in. Formerly adapted for screen in 1958 by Otto Premiger and starring Jean Seberg, another remake—starring Chloë Sevigny, Claes Bang and rising star Lily McInerny in the role of Cécile—has just finished shooting.
Ed. Shanay Jhaveri, Night Fever: Art and Film After Dark (Cornerhouse)
Darkness is illuminating material for artists and filmmakers, as explored in a new book, Night Fever: Art and Film After Dark which combines writing by over 40 writers, critics and academics, edited by Barbican Head of Visual Arts Shanay Jhaveri. Derek Jarman, Chris Marker, Chantal Akerman, Gaspar Noé and Apichatpong Weerasethakul are among the exhaustive list of creatives examined, with themes including dance, queerness, cosmology, work, sleep, revolt and rest.
Chris Cotonou, Columbia Pictures (Assouline)
To celebrate its 100th anniversary, Columbia Pictures have released a commemorative book to highlight 100 iconic moments in the studio’s history. From David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia and Frank Capra’s 1934 classic It Happened One Night to Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, Chris Cotonou’s texts guide readers through film history, whilst Hollywood historian Sam Wasson and Sony SEO Tom Rothman also provide insights.
Amy Liptrott, The Outrun, (Canongate)
Starring Saoirse Ronan in the lead role, the much anticipated adaptation of Amy Liptrott’s bestselling memoir, The Outrun, is due to premiere at Edinburgh Film Festival later this summer, where it will also open the festival. Telling the story of her recovery from alcoholism in the Scottish Islands of Orkney, Liptrott’s writing is bruising but poetic, steeped in the mythology and magic of the natural world.
Anna Bogutskaya, Feeding the Monster (Faber)
Anna Bogutskaya is a canny voice in contemporary film criticism, with writing and broadcasting that covers everything from mainstream movies and television (she co-hosted a Succession podcast) to nicher titles and trends (the return of VHS tapes, anyone?). One of Bogutskaya’s key interests is horror and her latest book, a follow up to 2023’s Unlikeable Female Characters, Feeding the Monster, explores the rise and rise of the horror genre, and why we love to look at things that scare us. (Out in August).
Albert Serra (trans. Matthew Tree), A Toast to St Martirià (Divided Publishing)
A Toast to St Martirià is named after an improvised speech given by the subversive Catalan filmmaker Albert Serra at the St Martirià fiesta in Banyoles, the town of his birth. A Toast is a journey through the director’s formative years—partying and relationships—as well as his musings on acting, reading and provocation. “Cinema should be this, making perception of time and space more intense,” he writes.
Shiguéhiko Hasumi (trans. Ryan Cook) Directed by Yasujiro Ozu (University of California Press)
Acclaimed critic and academic Shiguéhiko Hasumi’s Directed by Yasujiro Ozu is a foundational work on the slow cinema pioneer Ozu—famous for titles such as Tokyo Story, Late Spring and Autumn Afternoon. Newly translated into English by Ryan Cook, chapters titles are all verbs, thematic actions in Ozu’s films: ‘Eating,’ ‘Changing Clothes,’ ‘Getting Angry,’ ‘Laughing’ and ‘Being Surprised.’
William S. Burroughs, Queer
Luca Guadagnino will follow up to raunchy tennis drama Challengers will be Queer, an adaptation of William S. Burrough’s short novel. Originally an extension of Junkie (1953), set in Mexico City, it tells the more sober story of Lee, a drug addict who pursues Allerton, a discharged serviceman. Daniel Craig is set to star in the lead role, whilst Drew Starkey will play Allerton.
