The Film That Changed My Life author Robert K. Elder on NBC’s “Last Call with Carson Daly” recently.
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“This is a film buff’s kind of book, where you basically get an extended special feature of about 50 DVDs. Elder is brilliant in the composition, not only in the make-up each chapter, but also his selection of some of the most provocative directors in the business, past and present. His variety of picks also bodes well for a great read as well.”– Kevin Coll, Editor-in-Chief, FusedFilm.com
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Robert K. Elder interviewed on FusedFim.com’s The MixerCast podcast.
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Shelf Life, Creative Loafing Atlanta: Culture Surfing:
“Elder has a knack for keeping his conversations casual and disarmed while sticking to a relatively tight set of questions for each director. The longer interviews, like Danny Boyle on Apocalypse Now, sprawl out for pages of intimate, personal memories and tangents about film history, while others, like John Waters on The Wizard of Oz, are focused with witty jabs of insight. In either case, the conversations never feel forced or canned.”
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Robert K. Elder interviewed by Alison Cuddy about The Film That Changed My Life on WBEZ’s Eight Forty-Eight radio show.
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The Globe and Mail (January 28, 2011):
“Both delight and instruction are to be had here.”
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“If you love films and care about filmmakers, you’ll have a hard time putting this book down. These lively conversations reveal just how much one generation of filmmakers influences the next—and how a single movie can change the course of a young person’s life and career.”
“Unlike some so-called books that are cobbled together from scraps of movie-junket interviews, The Film That Changed My Life: 30 Directors on Their Epiphanies in the Dark by Robert K. Elder is a compulsively readable volume filled with thoughtful, often passionate conversations about great movies that made a difference in the lives (and careers) of thirty significant directors.
Film journalist Elder is very savvy and engages his subjects in genuine two-way dialogue about movies as disparate as 8½ and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad… Just a warning: once you start reading this book, you won’t find it easy to stop.” — Leonard Maltin, author of Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide
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“A great and provocative read. Elder begins with a simple question and leads a wide variety of filmmakers, and–I hope–a wide variety of readers down all sorts of unexpected paths. Why do we respond so passionately, even irrationally, to the movies which change our lives? The wonderful thing about being a critic or a lifelong movie lover is that life as you know it changes all the time in relation to the spells being cast on the screen. Elder’s book honors that alchemic relationship many times over. It’s addictive.” — Michael Phillips, film critic, Chicago Tribune
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“If, as John Huston once said, movies are the reigning art form of the last hundred years, then Robert Elder’s idea of asking 30 directors to talk about the movie that most influenced their careers is a bonanza for film buffs and a wonderful recommendation to all who love movies. Elder has done us all a favor: read this book, then go see for yourself why these movies made the cut!” — Lawrence Grobel, author of Al Pacino: In Conversation
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Booklist (January 2011 edition):
Thirty disparate directors discuss their transformative moviegoing experiences in this collection of revealing and entertaining interviews. The subjects cover the cinematic gamut, from mainstream veterans (Arthur Hiller, Bill Condon), art-house auteurs (Guy Maddin, Atom Egoyan), and young turks (Jay Duplass, Richard Kelly) to cult figures (Kevin Smith, John Waters), documentarians (Alex Gibney, Steve James) and animators (Pete Docter, Chris Miller). Some watched their pivotal flick as children—John Landis saw the fantasy epic The 7th Voyage of Sinbad at age eight and said, “Hey, I could do that”—while others were already committed to the medium and viewed their picks in film school. Many of the choices show an obvious influence—for instance, John Woo, renowned for his hard-boiled Hong Kong crime epics, cited Rebel without a Cause and Mean Streets—but others are genuinely surprising, such as horror auteur George Romero’s picking Michael Powell’s opera adaptation The Tales of Hoffmann. The discussions provide insight not only into the chosen films—most have been viewed repeatedly by the enthusiastic interviewees—but also into the directors’ own works. Their heartfelt and passionate tributes are cinephilia made concrete.— Gordon Flagg
Nylon Magazine (January 2011 issue):
“Boasting a refreshingly eclectic group of filmmakers…Elder’s anthology manages to cover an extensive range of film history while maintaining the lure of an unedited, behind-the-scenes reel. Our rating: E for Everyone.”
