Film is arguably the dominant art form of the twentieth century. In this Very Short Introduction, Michael Wood offers a wealth of insight into the nature of film, considering its role and impact on society as well as its future in the digital age. As Wood notes, film is many things, but it has become above all a means of telling stories through images and sounds. The stories are often quite false, frankly and beautifully fantastic, and they are sometimes insistently said to be true. Indeed, many condemn movies as an instrument of illusion, an emphatic way of seeing what is not there. And others celebrate the reverse: that film brings us closest to the world as it actually is. "Photography is truth," a character says in a film by Jean-Luc Godard. "And cinema is the truth twenty-four times per second." But they are stories in either case, and there are very few films, Wood observes, even in avant-garde art, that don't imply or quietly slip into narrative.

Updated in a new 12th edition , this book is organized around the elements of film and provides readers valuable insight into how movies communicate and convey meaning to their audiences.
This book engages readers in the fascinating language of film and helps further their appreciation and understanding of why and how movie watchers respond as they do to different films. From Slumdog Millionaire to Transformers. this book provides readers with a new way of looking at films that are familiar to them through contemporary coverage

作为日本电影巨星，仲代达矢九十高龄仍活跃在电影界与戏剧舞台。他无比丰厚的从影经历是日本电影史的宝贵财富。
在日本电影的黄金期（1960年代）仲代达矢与黑泽明、成濑巳喜男、小林正树、五社英雄、冈本喜八等著名导演合作无间，共同铸就了无数经典电影，他与三船敏郎、高峰秀子、原节子、胜新太郎等名演员共同工作的经历也是独一无二，由此堪称电影史的活证人。
本书是他晚年接受电影史研究学者春日太一访问的精华，他娓娓道来自己的片场经历，各个名导、名演员的接触印象，是引人入胜的回忆文字。