A Sudden Flicker of Light

From cinema’s most distinguished historian and critic comes a masterful one volume look at the whole sweep of movie history — perfect for fans of iconic films and modern classics, from Citizen Kane to Anora. There are few greater film lovers than David Thomson who, over the course of fifty years, has built up a reputation as one of the wisest and most penetrating voices on the art form. But Thomson is also very much aware of the dark side of this art that he’s devoted his career to and here he makes a full reckoning with it. In a very profound way, he argues in this book, the movies have been a destructive force—responsible for creating an alternate reality and fantasyland that has only deepened the isolation and disconnection of our society over the course of a century. Thomson explores the high and low points of film history with his usual brilliant insight—sharp and arresting readings of movies from Metropolis to Rear Window to Anora can be found in these pages. But he also shows the ways in which our love of voyeurism and villainy, and the passivity which the movies further engender, have led to a coarsening not just of a medium, but of the larger culture, including our political life. A bracing and polemical book, this is a powerful capstone to a distinguished career.