Prodigious, poetic, and unlike any other “history” of cinema, Mark Cousins’s The Story of Film: An Odyssey is, as the title promises, a thrilling journey. Cousins’s personal voyage—complete with side-trips and retraced steps—is an illuminating, idiosyncratic tour of the emotional and intellectual pleasures of cinema. Framed in 15 chapters, with a combined running time of 15 hours, the film is a treasure trove of clips from films both famous and underappreciated, interviews from a global who’s-who of filmmakers, and passionate, provocative commentary.
Organized by Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator, and Sally Berger, Assistant Curator, Department of Film.
The Story of Film. 2011. Great Britain. Directed by Mark Cousins