Fairy Tales. Fantasy and Fiction in World Cinema

“REAL MATERIAL (INFORMATION) WAS PRODUCED BY A FOREIGN AGENT FROM DOLINY, ANTON VLADIMIROVICH, OR MATERIAL (INFORMATION) RELATES TO THE ACTIVITIES OF THIS FOREIGN AGENT.” James Cameron and Hayao Miyazaki, Steven Spielberg and Guillermo del Toro, Christopher Nolan, Lars von Trier—the heroes of Anton Dolin’s new book. The main storytellers of world cinema find ways to return us to childhood—the age of fantastic hopes, irresistible fears, and absurd belief in a happy ending. What can explain the staggering success of “Avatar”? What do the childish Tintin and the courageous Indiana Jones have in common? Why, in all of Miyazaki’s animated films, do the heroes take to the sky? As he solves one fairytale puzzle of contemporary cinema after another, the author analyzes the universes of these masters, including through unique interviews. You’ll find out whether Tolkien would have approved of Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings.” Was “A Shape of Water” an answer to the Soviet “Amphibian Man”? Can showrunners save the life of the next character George R. R. Martin plans to kill? Welcome to Anton Dolin’s world of fairy tales!