Hollywood and intimacy

Hollywood and Intimacy provides a critical appreciation of close relationships in the modern American movie. It looks in detail at contemporary Hollywood films which in varying ways explore aspects of intimacy. These include: The Age of Innocence (Martin Scorsese), The Bridges of Madison County (Clint Eastwood), The Insider (Michael Mann), and The Straight Story (David Lynch). In all four works, there is an intimate relationship between the connections of characters, their surroundings, and points of film style. To unlock the meanings in these films, the book provides close and evocative readings, countering typical claims for contemporary Hollywood's large-scale indulgence and forwarding a fresh approach to understanding the big American film. This is the first book to address modern Hollywood's facility to create big movies - with sweeping landscapes and grand musical scores - as capable of bringing the viewer closer to the characters and to the films' achievements.