Wes Anderson (Close-Ups, Book 1)

The indispensable, illustrated pocket guide to the films of Wes Anderson, from Bottle Rocket to Isle of Dogs.

ALSO AVAILABLE:

Close-Ups: Vampire Movies
Close-Ups: New York Movies

Wes Anderson is a distinctive auteur of modern American cinema, known for having created a personal universe out of pastel colour palettes, meticulous set design, nostalgic soundtracks and a troupe of familiar actors – all seen in films such as Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Isle of Dogs.

In this illustrated pocket guide Sophie Monks Kaufman delves beneath Anderson’s pristine surfaces to examine his emotional preoccupations with family, romance, failure, adventure and death. She carefully unspools the cultural threads that inform his aesthetic to explain why this precocious arthouse film nerd from Texas has become one of the most popular directors of his generation.

• FIRST SERIES FROM CULT FILM MAGAZINE: Little White Lies is an award-winning British film magazine, described by the Guardian as ‘the most beautiful film magazine on the shelves’, with a print readership of 60k and a digital readership of 500k unique users per month. They are stocked in WH Smiths, Barnes & Noble, independents, boutiques and Ace Hotel, with an audience demographic of 18-45. The magazine retails at £6, so at £9.99 the Close-Ups books aren’t a big jump for that core readership.

• BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED POCKET GUIDES: The Close-Ups series brings together the best young film journalists and illustrators, who explore their subjects with wit, verve and expert authority, in all sorts of idiosyncratic and unconventional ways. In stark contrast to the sterner, more academic film guides on the market (e.g. BFI Classics) Close-Ups are be refreshingly fun and accessible – more gift books than stodgy film textbooks. Key comparisons include the Wallpaper* City Guides (400k TCM) and the 33 1/3 series (80k TCM).

• PROMISING YOUNG FILM CRITIC: Sophie Monks Kaufman is a freelance film journalist published at Sight & Sound, BFI, NME, the Guardian, New Statesman and Time Out. She is contributing editor at Little White Lies and talks about movies on Radio 4's The Film Programme and the Truth & Movies podcast. She is also the writer/director of the film I Do Not Sleep.