They Live

November 1, 2010

John Carpenter's sensationally paranoid They Live (1988) grabbed yuppie capitalism and the Reagan establishment in an allegorical headlock full of B-movie aplomb. Lethem (Chronic City; Motherless Brooklyn) here launches the "Deep Focus" series, intended to highlight smart and lively dissections of influential aspects of cinema beyond the mainstream. Like a jazz riff on the traditional critical method, the result is a free-form and poetical exploration. Organized by film-time elapsed, the chapters break down, shot by shot, the composition and symbolism of Carpenter's film. We experience the scenes through Lethem's subjective lens, occasionally departing on seemingly stream-of-consciousness philosophical engagements of filmic subtexts. VERDICT Familiarity with the film or Carpenter's oeuvre isn't required. Fans of film criticism (by the likes of Pauline Kael, Anthony Lane, and A.O. Scott) and pop-culture punch will find enough well-coiffed wit to satisfy. A hipster-smart series for the bad-ass intellectual or subversive film student. [The second book in the series, Christopher Sorrentino's Death Wish, is also scheduled to publish in November.--Ed.]--Ben Malczewski, Ypsilanti District Lib., MI

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2010
Ive come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And Im all out of bubblegum. It doesnt rank with go ahead, make my day, but that memorable line from director John Carpenters 1988 sf action satire They Live holds a special place in the hearts of cult-movie fans everywhere. This low-budget, poorly acted genre piece is the first specimen put under the microscope in a new series of long-form film criticism books called Deep Focus. The series takes a hip, contemporary writer and lets him or her loose on a classic (or not so classic) movie. They Live is lovingly picked apart, scene by scene, by Jonathan Lethem, the best-selling author of The Fortress of Solitude (2003) and a highly respected essayist. He finds hidden subtext in the smallest of details, while jovially debating the intentionality of Carpenters views on television, consumerism, race, misogyny, and so forth. In Lethems opinion, They Live is probably the stupidest film ever to take ideology as its explicit subject. Its also probably the most fun. He is convincing.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)