So Long, Silver Screen by Blutch

So Long, Silver Screen Reviews

• 
  Dave Schaafsma

  Completely original work by the noted French cartoonist, a romanticized and bawdy story of one man's love of film, especially fifties films. The drawing is accomplished and the story is unique and high energy and episodic and not always "coherent." It's more like short comics about film featuring famous film actors and various women in our hero's life who take a sometimes exasperated view of his obsession. He is a romantic, and maybe particularly crazy about sultry actresses of the period, but who wouldn't be? Claudia Cardinale! Bardot! Truffaut! Mais oui!
  
  I was not familiar with Blutch's work; I liked it in part because I knew all his fifties film referenced and share the main character's passion for these films, and an era in which film, maybe French film in particular, was all encompassing, larger than life. Such a great time for film! It's a romantic tale, finally, amusing, but not for kids. I am told this is his first feature length work to be published in English. I am happy to be introduced to his work.
• 
  Richard

  Now I love the cinema, especially those films that were on Sunday afternoons growing up. I sneaked into movie theatres to watch the larger than life images on show, long before I was old enough to watch the film. In those days you could enter at any time during the screening, so if you missed the first half hour you could stay in your seat and watch the whole thing through again and make sense of what was happening.
  That said I have lost my way with big blockbusters and repeats like Rocky 1,2,3,4 to the nth repeats but find I often liked the original one like Jaws.
  So here seemed a perfect book, a little French but then we always kidded our parents we watched foreign films to learn the language by reading the subtitles.
  The problem here for me was the amount of knowledge expected, as the in jokes and humour needed a reference point. While I could recognise screen goddesses and captured images or appreciate Burt Lancaster films like Trapeze or a clever William Holden caricature. Overall, I was lost and confused.
  Further the storyline holding the piece together didn't seem believable and a little too violent.
  I wondered if the sexual images and violence was intended as irony like the move through King Kong to Tarzan and beyond.
  I tried to pay attention like when Peeping Tom was mentioned but missed the point completely.
  The artwork and illustrations were patchy, some excellently drawn actors easily recognisable and alas others I did not know so cannot praise the likeness or judge it. The words are annoyingly in various written styles from creative to readable to barely legible.
  This was perhaps the best medium for this homage but I was not quite on the same page. This comic book was not for me.
  
• 
  Onur Yz

  Ve en büyük sürpriz...
  
  Sinema ve comics... Şu sıralar en sevdiğim şey. Sinema tutkum çok küçüklükten beri var da comics gecikmiş bir merak.
  
  Sinema tarihine adını kazıyarak yazdırmış ikonik oyuncuların gündelik bir öykü içerisine enjekte edilmesiyle ortaya çok farklı ve çarpıcı bir şey çıkmış. Okuması zorlu, hayli yorucu ama bir yandan da keyifli.
• 
  Wayne McCoy

  'So Long, Silver Screen' with script and art by Blutch is more of an essay in graphic novel form, but that seems to suit it just fine.
  
  At times, this felt a bit stream of consciousness in nature, with odd bits flying in from nowhere, but it's an essay about our love of film. How we sometimes fetishize it, and really, it's just another industry at it's heart. With references to Tarzan, Burt Lancaster, Luchino Visconti, and more, the author shows how film has informed his life, sometimes to an obsessive level.
  
  It's pretty original in nature, but I felt like it meandered a bit at times. The artwork is good, and there is definite shock value of sorts along the way. I like the page of gleaming teeth of Burt Lancaster at various stages of his life. I liked it.
  
  I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
• 
  Tosh

  An odd graphic novel that is more reflective than narrative with respect to the tradition of cinema watching. "So Long, Silver Screen" has a sense of sadness that the artist/cartoonist Blutch attaches to the nature of films. Here he reflects on the image of Burt Landcaster and the great French actor Michel Piccoli (among others) through out their various roles. For the causal reader, they may need a footnote or two, but part of the fun is to go on the journey with Blutch regarding the subject of film history and the aesthetic of movie-watching.
• 
  StrictlySequential

  I would give this ********** because it was NOTHING BUT stars illuminated with tremendous art! It's a truely brilliant homage to Hollywood's golden age that keenly examines the effect it had on it's worshipers.
  
  BUT:
  If you're not a classic (duo-tone) film junkie like myself this may confuse or even bore you.
  
  The pages he spent on Burt Lancaster were my favorite.
• 
  Jim

  I found this book, while browsing the shelves of the local library. I was drawn to the book by the description on the back cover. “What are the movies? What effect do they have on us? Why do we love them so much? Blutch addresses all these questions in a series of interlocking short comics that move between scholarly history, romantic theory and ribald vignettes featuring a motley cast of actors and topics including Burt Lancaster, Jean-Luc Godard, Luchino Visconti, Claude Cardinale, Tarzan and Michel Piccoli. As much a visual essay as it is graphic novel, a daydream and a fantastic meditation on the other art of telling stories with images. “So Long, Silver Screen” is a new height for an uncontested master of contemporary cartooning.”
  
  That is a tall order for such a thin book. I’m not sure it delivered, at least not for me. One problem that I had with the book is that the author, Blutch is French. Some of his references I do not know so part of his book was lost on me. The other actors he mentions are usually roles from older films.
  
  I was beginning to lose interest in the book until I read his section on “Women in Film”. That was when it started to get interesting. I actually went back to the beginning to see if I had missed something earlier. I hadn’t. He did do a good job of describing how women have been portrayed and used in film as the objects for men’s desires and fantasies.
  
  The book is mostly written with Blutch as the central figure debating with other characters real and imagined on the benefits and value of film. Is it even an art form? How does it measure up to other art forms? What is the purpose of film?
  
  He does raise some interesting questions, but he also leaves a lot to be desired.
  
  An interesting book and a quick read.
  
• 
  Rick Ray

  Blutch takes on classic cinema with a series of high quality vignettes masterfully collected as So Long, Silver Screen. The stories in this book don't always evoke a sense of finality, or indeed even a climax, rather Blutch sets out to capture moods with scenes that are either about film or feel like they could be a random midpoint in an actual film. There is a heavily romanticized feel to each story collected in So Long, Silver Screen that is easily captured by Blutch's expressive linework and appealing duotones. This is a seriously beautiful looking book, and I enjoyed this despite my limited knowledge of classic cinema (French or otherwise). I can see why some people didn't vibe with this book, but I really enjoyed the read.
• 
  Al McCarty

  Years ago, my friend Stephanie returned from France with a gift for me: three slim volumes of a mostly silent comic book titled Mitchum by an artist named Blutch. I was amazed at his style and talent. Stories range a wide span of topics, not merely Robert Mitchum, sometimes there was sex and MechaGodzilla. His expressive inks were right up my alley.
  It took far too long for me to see his work again, and I was glad to find this volume at the library. Ruminations on "le cinema", rugged hard-chinned American actors like Lancaster and Douglas, and of course, sex. Recollections of childhood longings, cinematic obsessions, and the allure of the silver screen. Beautiful book, well worth the time spent with it.
• 
  Maryann Kandlik

  While l appreciated some of the illustrations, I was very disappointed in this book. I found the sexual content gratuitous and adolescent and did nothing to contribute to what little story content was there. Some of the discussion on movies and their significance on individuals as well as culture was interesting, but the discussion quickly descended into a pretentious rant against the previous ideas. Perhaps I just missed something in the translation.
• 
  Kristine

  So Long, Silver Screen by Blutch is a free NetGalley e-comicbook that I read in mid-July.
  
  International movie-themed vignettes that focus loosely on progress, the passage of time, social critique, and that things just aren’t the same, such as the faces of Burt Lancaster and an ode to the female form.
• 
  Vittorio Rainone

  Nota positiva di questo volume: i disegni sono davvero belli. Blutch, che non conoscevo, ha una naturalezza nel tratto fuori dal comune. Per il resto: bah. Una carrellata di osservazioni più o meno interessanti sul cinema e sulla sua fascinazione. Magari a qualcun altro piacerà.
  
• 
  Keith Kavanagh

  as per usual the artword so good, unfortunately though the rest lost me halfway through
• 
  Zioluc

  Blutch è un asso, ma questo omaggio al cinema degli anni d'oro è rivolto esclusivamente a veri cinefili appassionati in grado di riconoscere ogni attore, film, e riferimento della Hollywood degli anni d'oro. Io me li sono persi quasi tutti e quindi mi sono annoiato moltissimo. Colpa mia, lo so.
• 
  Bill Fletcher

  I was really excited waiting for this to be released and have to admit I was kind of disappointed. Some of the stories are fun; most of them are just kind of there. The artwork is fun but it doesn't make up for the lack of anything really going on in the stories.
• 
  Aaron

  The art in this comic is beautiful, but otherwise I didn't get much out of it. The story is intentionally lacking in plot or logic, and I'm not enough of a film buff to understand all or even most of the references.
• 
  VAle

  preso in biblioteca
  Troppo per cinefili. Ho capito forse un quarto dei riferimenti.
• 
  Andréa

  Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.