New American Crime Film

Matthew Sorrento teaches film at Rutgers University-Camden in New Jersey. He has served as editor for Identity Theory and Film Threat and is a regular contributor to many other publications.

“recommended”—Bookgasm; “with his sharp analysis of some of the most important American films of the past couple of decades, Matthew Sorrento not only forges a new canon but also anchors it in the rich tradition of the gangsters who shot their way through the noir of the 1930s, 40s and 50s, the New Hollywood of the 70s and the neo-noir of the 80s.”—David Hudson, MUBI.com.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments      Foreword by Stuart Gordon      Preface      Introduction: Why Genre, and Why the New Crime Film Has Arrived      PART ONE : NEW BREAK-INS1. Say Hello to the New Heist: Spike Lee’s Inside Man      2. Paranoia Reemerging: Tony Gilroy’s Michael Clayton      3. Scandalous Notes: The “Feminized” Crime of I>Notes on a Scandal      4. Searching the Wasteland: Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone      5. Teen Crime and Redemption: Gus Van Sant’s Elephant and Paranoid Park      PART TWO : DARKEST REGIONS6. Night of the Hunters: David Fincher’s Zodiac and the New Serial Killer Film      7. Crime and Suffering: Stuart Gordon’s Edmond and Stuck      8. In a World of “Shit”: Crime Motifs in Richard Linklater’s Fast Food Nation      9. Noir and True Crime: Andrew Jarecki’s All Good Things      10. “Now It’s Dark”: David Lynch’s Crime Nightmares      PART THREE : THE OLDSCHOOL GOES NEW11. The Bloody Frontier: Tommy Lee Jones’s Weary Avenger      12. New Paths to Justice: Clint Eastwood’s Late-Career Crime Films      13. Woody Allen’s Match(ed) Point: The Crime of Class      14. David Mamet: Crime, Power, and Perspective      15. New Ganglands: The Journey to Public Enemies and American Gangster      PART FOUR : TRIUMPHANT GETAWAYS16. The Coen Uncanny: From Blood Simple to No Country for Old Men      17. From the Body Outward: The New Crimes of David Cronenberg      18. Reclaiming the Renegade Cop: Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans      19. Sam Raimi’s A Simple Plan: A Triumph of Classicism      Chapter Notes      Bibliography      Index