Donald Richie was the first and most influential champion of Japanese cinema for American audiences. In his thoughtful and unpretentious writing style, he introduced a generation to the Golden Age films of masters like Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu. An expatriate in Japan from the age of 23, he published over forty books and dozens of essays spanning art criticism, historical fiction and travelogues like the canonical The Inland Sea. Viewing Film is a landmark publication: the first collection of Richie's writings on cinema from beyond Japan. Spanning ten countries and twenty years, the films discussed here reveal that Richie's analytical gifts were not constrained by cultural or geographical boundaries. This book is a declaration of love for the cinema, intended for any reader interested in world film history, the art of criticism or the life and work of Donald Richie.

Author Biography

Donald Richie (1924 - 2013) was born in Lima, Ohio, but lived in Japan from 1947 onwards, except for times at Columbia University in the early 1950s and as curator of film at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1968-73. The author of some forty books and dozens of essays, Richie was especially well known for his seminal role in introducing Japanese film to the West.