Existentialism and Social Engagement in the Films of Michael Mann

Michael Mann's films receive a detailed analysis as existential dramas, including Heat, Collateral , The Last of the Mohicans and Public Enemies. The book demonstrates that Mann's films perform critical engagement with existentialism, illustrating the problems and opportunities of living according to this philosophy.

'Vincent Gaine's book is an object lesson in using philosophy to study cinema, persuasively arguing through close reading that the apparently disparate output of director Michael Mann is really a coherent body of film held together by existentialist themes.' - Jerry Goodenough, University of East Anglia, UK

'Gaine builds a sturdy academic thesis and occasional nuggets-on the doubling and mirroring in Heat and Manhunter for example- confirm his keen cinephile's eye...' - Jamie Russell, Total Film

Autorentext
VINCENT M. GAINE is an Independent Scholar working in the area of Film, Television and Media Studies. He has published articles on digital film, superheroes in the new millennium, post 9/11 film and docu-drama, and continues to research philosophical filmmakers in contemporary Hollywood.

Inhalt
Acknowledgements Introduction PART I: MANN AND MOVIES Michael Mann: Hollywood Auteur? Film and Philosophy PART II: CRIME AND SOLITUDE Being the Thief (1981) Psychological Resolution in Manhunter (1986) Isolation and Desolation in Heat (1995) Indifference and Compassion in Collateral (2004) Pretence and Romance in Miami Vice (2006) PART III: HISTORY AND SOCIAL CONSCIENCE Origins of Evil in The Keep (1983) Utopia Lost in The Last of the Mohicans (1992) Hazardous Authenticity in The Insider (1999) Being the People's Champion in Ali (2001) Ethics, Engagement and Enemies Bibliography Filmography Index