"Although André Bazin died shortly before the onset of what we now regard as the modern cinema, our understanding of this cinema wouldn't be the same without him. He's also one of the most scrupulous humanists and polemicists we've had, on a par with George Orwell, and these essays map out the busy highways we're all still navigating."--Jonathan Rosenbaum, film critic for the Chicago Reader

"What Is Cinema? remains an invaluable--and beautiful--landmark in film and media studies. In both my research and my classrooms I return to these essays again and again--not only for the richness of their arguments but also for their passionate belief that the cinema is a form of revelation vital to our lives."--Vivian Sobchack, Professor, Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media, University of California, Los Angeles