Alex Gibney on The Exterminating Angel: “There’s one scene where two maids are about to go out the front door, and then they see all the guests arriving, and they quickly skitter back. They hide until the guests arrive and then they move quickly out the front door, exactly like rats leaving a sinking ship. So there’s a wonderful and delicious irony, and he plays it so straight in those scenes. When the mistress of the house finds out they’re doing this, she gets all huffy. “Haven’t you liked working here?” “Yes, ma’am, of course I have, but I’m afraid I must leave.” You’re giving up a job you’ve had for five years for mysterious reasons you can’t really understand? There’s something wonderfully comical and mysterious about it.”
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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."
-Leonard Maltin, author of Leanord Martin's Movie Guide -
"A great and provocative read. Elder begins with a simple question and leads a wide variety of filmmakers down all sorts of unexpected paths. Why do we respond so passionately, even irrationally, to the movies that change our lives? The wonderful thing about being a critic or a lifelong movie lover is that life 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