Includes bibliographical references (p. [191]-194) and index.

Richard Linklater -- Todd Haynes -- Paul Thomas Anderson -- David O. Russell -- Wes Anderson -- Charles Kaufman, Spike Jonze, and Michel Gondry -- Fellow travelers: David Fincher, Sofia Coppola, and Richard Kelly -- Conclusion: After the orgy.

Mayshark, an experienced staff editor for the New York Times News Service, has written perhaps the first in-depth study of the major contributors to the culturally and cinematically aware, accessibly eccentric "post-pop cinema." Mayshark interprets the creative output of directors from Wes Anderson to David O. Russell to Sofia Coppola, among others, who deal so originally and truthfully with their characters' struggles for individuality and clarity. His study of Todd Haynes in particular, covering films such as Safe, Far from Heaven, and the controversial Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, reveals a genuine understanding of the director's attempts to combine cinematic artistry with complex and often tragic characterizations. Mayshark illustrates that even as this period in American filmmaking creates new ways of storytelling, the seed of it all remains the difficult joy and madness of finding one's place in the world. This is a highly engaging and informative study of a sensibility more than a genre; recommended for all academic and public libraries. Peter Thornell, Hingham P.L., MA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc.