A Book Review by William Blick.
A richly researched and detailed study that contributes original perspectives on an aspect of cinema that is often underrepresented….”
Being a Gen-X kid, I was raised on Hollywood blockbusters of the 1980s. With a steady diet of films like Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Lost Boys, and the Rocky franchise, thrills came quick, cheap, and steady like a barrage of jabs. It was not until I was introduced to classic films of European and Asian cinema that I came to appreciate a distinct style of “slowness” in cinema and minimalism to achieve dramatic effect. In American cinema, I retraced my steps and went back to reappraise the pacing of Rear Window and Shadow of a Doubt, and all the wonder that is Hitchcock.
As I was educated in a wide range of cinema, I came to realize that there has always been a fine line between “popular” and “arthouse” cinema, with arthouse often in “slower” forms. In the The Rebirth of Suspense: Slowness and Atmosphere in Cinema (Columbia University Press), Rick Warner addresses the benefits and craft of utilizing slow pacing and still atmospheres to build suspense and create tension within a film. He also discusses treading the invisible line between art-house and popular film with these narrative techniques.
I can recall watching Bruno Dumont’s 29 Palms, for example, and I could not comprehend why nothing appeared to be happening on screen. Was there some rich subtext? Was this an exercise in minimalism? Does the sum of the parts equal greater than the whole? Why the snail’s pace? Yet, there is an overbearing sense of unease, like too much of nothing making the viewer uncomfortable. There are many “art-films” that are paced this way. Rick Warner offers a justification for this use of minimalism and understatement.
What is the rebirth of suspense that Warner refers to in his title? He explains, “my book…by carefully examining the atmospheric workings of suspense in slow-paced art-house films whose tonal and sensuous aspects, while not ignored, have been relegated to overgeneralized registers of wonder and boredom in arguments looking to assign slow cinema a single group style and vocation.” Fundamentally, Warner explains what exactly is happening in films where often the critical complaint is “nothing is happening.”
Warner’s knowledge of cinema and the genres that make up the central point of his book are vast and at times, it can be inspiring to see a true cinephile and film academic at the heart of this work.”
Warner explains early on that his “purpose in this study is to salvage an account of some of the suspense as operates within the cusp of so-called slow cinema, an art-house tendency known for its prolonged shot lengths, sparing mise-en-scene, relaxed or stalled plots, and contemplative quotidian events and landscapes.” He starts out attributing much of the slowness as a narrative device in suspense to the so-called “master of suspense,” Hitchcock, and credits what he calls the “Hitchcockian Model” as a paradigm for comparison. The author then detaches from the paradigm and explores cinema further than the traditional trappings of the suspense genre heavily defined by Hitchcock. Digging deep into the heart of the genre, the author cites some very obscure films and filmmakers to illustrate his thesis, but does not neglect classics. Warner is also careful to question whether “suspense” is really a genre onto itself but rather a culmination of other genres.
The author may have been better served to organize the book in more linearly structured manner, perhaps chronological or geographical film history to reflect the world cinemas of Japan, Scandinavia, France and Italy and their contributions to “slowness of suspense.” Although world cinemas are mentioned and reflected, specifically Bresson, Ozu, or the Nouvelle Vague, some of the works or movements are not examined thoroughly enough before Warner cites a whole litany of numerous other films. Throughout, Warner discusses timelier, contemporary filmmakers and films such as Jonathan Glazer and David Lynch. He also devotes a chapter to Twin Peaks: The Return, which in my opinion is a relatively minor entry into the genre. And yet Warner is most eloquent when discussing Bresson’s A Man Escaped (1956) or Kyoshi Kurosawa or Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2011; see top image). Much to the author’s credit, one cannot help being floored by the encyclopedic knowledge that he demonstrates.
Aside from the structure of The Rebirth of Suspense being somewhat loosely arranged, and at times dense with what may seem like affected academic pondering, the book is very often on target and refreshingly unconventional. Warner’s knowledge of cinema and the genres that make up the central point of his book are vast and at times, it can be inspiring to see a true cinephile and film academic at the heart of this work. This work is geared towards an academic audience and utilizes some well-known cultural critics and philosophers such as Gilles Deleuze to illustrate its message. The book is well fitted with a compilation of fantastic notes to accompany the text, which ideal for academic film scholars.
Make no mistake about it, The Rebirth of Suspense is a richly researched and detailed study that contributes original perspectives on an aspect of cinema that is often underrepresented: the slow pacing of tension and suspense in film. In today’s milieu, where Marvel film spectacles drive audiences to theaters in droves, and viewers’ attention spans are limited to engagement with Tik-Tok videos, slowness and atmosphere is exactly what cinema needs right now. It is only fitting that this book should appear now.
William Blick is a film and literary/crime fiction critic; a librarian; and an academic scholar. His work has been featured in Senses of Cinema, Film Threat, Cineaction, and CinemaRetro, and he is a frequent contributor to Retreats from Oblivion: The Journal of Noircon. His crime fiction has been featured in Close to the Bone, Pulp Metal Magazine, Out of the Gutter, and others. He is an Assistant Professor/Librarian for the City University of New York.