Tom Fleming
Who Needs Hollywood?
Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance and the Rise of Independent Film
By Peter Biskind
Bloomsbury 546pp £18.99
HARVEY WEINSTEIN WAS not entirely happy about this book being written; he even offered the author, Peter Biskind, a contract with Miramax Books to write something else. Biskind declined, thankfully, and, as one might expect, Weinstein's antics as co-chairman of Miramax provide the most entertaining and informative parts of own and Dirty Pictures; it is worth reading the book for him alone.
In 1979, Harvey and Bobby Weinstein, two brothers from Queens, took their tiny film company down from Buffalo to New York City, Miramax - named after their parents, Miriam and Max - began by honing in on the stuff that no one else would touch: foreign-language films, usually with a pornographic element to attract audiences (Goodbye Emmanuelle, for instance) and concert films. The brothers had an eye for talent, a love of profit not entirely distinct from avarice, and outstanding negotiating acumen.
It was also in 1979 that Robert Redford set up the Sundance Institute (named after his character in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). Major studios at the time were enraptured with profit margins, and young film-makers had little or no chance of gaining a footing in an industry overly reliant on sequels and high-concept trash (Star Trek:
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
This and two more newly available pieces from our October 1984 issue in our From the Archives newsletter. Sign up on our website so you never miss another dispatch.
Congratulations to @HanKangOfficial, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2024.
We've lifted the paywall on Joanna Kavenna's review of The White Book from November 2017.
Joanna Kavenna - Carte Blanche
Joanna Kavenna: Carte Blanche - The White Book by Han Kang (Translated by Deborah Smith)
literaryreview.co.uk
Few surveys of British art exist. Those that do have given disproportionate space to recent trends and neglected the 150 years between Hogarth and Turner.
@robinsimonbaj examines what launched British artists of this era into the European stratosphere.
Robin Simon - The Wright Stuff
Robin Simon: The Wright Stuff - The Invention of British Art by Bendor Grosvenor
literaryreview.co.uk