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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The Film Club by David Gilmour

The Film Club is a memoir by Canadian novelist David Gilmour that covers the years he spent viewing movies with his son Jesse.  Gilmour allowed his son to drop out of school in the 10th grade, but only if he promised to watch 3 movies a week with his father.  The movies become an opportunity to bond with his son, to explore directors and film technique, to discuss some of the topics of the various films which run the gamut of tragedy, comedy, great films, and guilty pleasures.

Gilmour struggles with his decision to allow Jesse to drop out of school, with his own job search, and with the ups and downs of his teenage son's love life.

If you love movies, you will find all kinds of interesting trivia, be reminded of classic films, enjoy revisiting some of your favorites, and learn some of the odd facts that accompanied the making and makers of the films.

This was recommended by Beauty Is a Sleeping Cat, and a book that I thoroughly enjoyed (although the teenage love life was much more important to Gilmour than to ancient me).  A great pre-Oscar read--I'm passing this one on to my daughter who will soon be hosting her annual Oscar party.

Nonfiction.  Memoir.  2009.  225 pages.

6 comments:

  1. I have this on my list to read soonish. Glad you liked it!

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  2. I'm glad you liked it. I really enjoyed it a lot.

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  3. Caroline, it made me want to start a film club of my own and go right down his list!

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  4. Kailana - It has so many interesting comments on movies. Made me want to watch some that I've heard about, but never seen.

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  5. I had an ARC (which I picked up when my library was giving away ARCs) of this one and I'm not sure what I did with it. Hope I didn't get rid of it. You've made it sound terrific

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  6. Bookfool - I really enjoyed learning some of the details about movies and his reasoning behind his choices!

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