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The Story of Film: An Odyssey

  • TV Mini Series
  • 20112011
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 1h
IMDb RATING
8.4/10
4.4K
YOUR RATING
The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
Trailer for The History of Film: An Odyssey - The Entire Series
Play trailer1:35
5 Videos
53 Photos
  • Documentary
  • History
A comprehensive history of the medium and art of motion pictures.A comprehensive history of the medium and art of motion pictures.A comprehensive history of the medium and art of motion pictures.
IMDb RATING
8.4/10
4.4K
YOUR RATING
  • Stars
    • Mark Cousins
    • Juan Diego Botto
    • Aleksandr Sokurov
Top credits
  • Stars
    • Mark Cousins
    • Juan Diego Botto
    • Aleksandr Sokurov
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 68User reviews
    • 26Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 2 wins & 1 nomination

    Episodes15

    Browse episodes
    TopTop-rated
    1 Season
    2011

    Videos5

    The Story Of Film: Bubbles (Spanish)
    Clip 2:47
    The Story Of Film: Bubbles (Spanish)
    The Story Of Film: Saving Private Ryan (Spanish)
    Clip 3:10
    The Story Of Film: Saving Private Ryan (Spanish)
    The Story of Film: An Odyssey: The Entire Series
    Trailer 1:35
    The Story of Film: An Odyssey: The Entire Series
    The Story of Film: An Odyssey: The Entire Series
    Trailer 1:23
    The Story of Film: An Odyssey: The Entire Series
    The Story Of Film: An Odyssey (German Blu-Ray/DVD Trailer)
    Trailer 1:42
    The Story Of Film: An Odyssey (German Blu-Ray/DVD Trailer)

    Photos53

    Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant in The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
    The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
    Jean Seberg in The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
    The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
    The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
    Bruce Lee in The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
    The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
    The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
    Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
    The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
    The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
    The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Mark Cousins
    Mark Cousins
    • Self - Presenter
    15 episodes15 eps • 2011
    Juan Diego Botto
    Juan Diego Botto
    • Narrator
    Aleksandr Sokurov
    Aleksandr Sokurov
    • Self - Interviewee
    3 episodes3 eps • 2011
    Norman Lloyd
    Norman Lloyd
    • Self - Interviewee
    3 episodes3 eps • 2011
    Lars von Trier
    Lars von Trier
    • Self - Interviewee
    3 episodes3 eps • 2011
    Paul Schrader
    Paul Schrader
    • Self - Interviewee
    3 episodes3 eps • 2011
    Haskell Wexler
    Haskell Wexler
    • Self - Interviewee
    3 episodes3 eps • 2011
    Woo-Ping Yuen
    Woo-Ping Yuen
    • Self - Interviewee
    2 episodes2 eps • 2011
    Robert Towne
    Robert Towne
    • Self - Interviewee
    2 episodes2 eps • 2011
    Samira Makhmalbaf
    Samira Makhmalbaf
    • Self…
    2 episodes2 eps • 2011
    Jean-Michel Frodon
    • Self - Film Historian…
    2 episodes2 eps • 2011
    Stanley Donen
    Stanley Donen
    • Self - Interviewee
    2 episodes2 eps • 2011
    Sharmila Tagore
    Sharmila Tagore
    • Self - Interviewee
    2 episodes2 eps • 2011
    Mani Kaul
    Mani Kaul
    • Self - Interviewee
    2 episodes2 eps • 2011
    Youssef Chahine
    Youssef Chahine
    • Self - Interviewee
    2 episodes2 eps • 2011
    Kyôko Kagawa
    Kyôko Kagawa
    • Self - Interviewee
    2 episodes2 eps • 2011
    Donald Richie
    • Self - Interviewee
    2 episodes2 eps • 2011
    Gaston Kaboré
    Gaston Kaboré
    • Self - Interviewee
    2 episodes2 eps • 2011
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

    More like this

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    7.3
    The Story of Film: A New Generation
    Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema
    7.7
    Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema
    Histoire(s) du cinéma
    7.2
    Histoire(s) du cinéma
    The Hand
    7.9
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    Side by Side
    7.6
    Side by Side
    Suspense
    7.4
    Suspense
    Robby Müller: Living the Light
    7.3
    Robby Müller: Living the Light
    The Eyes of Orson Welles
    6.8
    The Eyes of Orson Welles
    The Story of Looking
    7.1
    The Story of Looking
    The First Movie
    7.2
    The First Movie
    Tropical Malady
    7.1
    Tropical Malady
    40 Days to Learn Film
    40 Days to Learn Film

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Mark Cousins is an Honorary Professor of the University of Glasgow.
    • Alternate versions
      Complete 900 minute version shown at the Toronto International Film Festival (in 2011), and the New York Museum of Modern Art in New York City (in 2012).
    • Connections
      Featured in Brows Held High: Gerry Redux! (2014)

    User reviews68

    Review
    Top review
    6/10
    It should be called Mark Cousins' Story of Film
    Even though I'm a longtime IMDb user, I've never written a review here. However, I felt compelled to write one after watching the 15 episodes of Mark Cousins' odyssey through film. Most of the reviews here seemed to focus only on his narration, or the reviewers didn't seem to have endured the 900 minutes of Cousins' work (which is completely understandable). My opinion on the series changed as the episodes went by.

    First, the narration. Cousins' voice didn't annoy me that much. Maybe because I'm not a native English speaker (even though I was following what he was saying, cause I watched it with German subtitles - and my English is much better than my German!). But he's definitely not the best narrator around. Its not about the accent. He lacks emotion in his voice. He basically says everything with the same tone of voice. But that's far from being my main problem with his approach.

    One thing can't be denied: Cousins has a tremendous knowledge of cinema. Maybe the best thing about The Story of Film is how it encompasses basically the whole globe. I'm basically ignorant about African cinema, for example; Cousins showed me a lot of stuff I didn't know (not only about African cinema). It's refreshing to see such a global approach. And the movie clips are mostly superb - they're the main reason of the six stars out of ten.

    The biggest problem, however, is called Mark Cousins. Be warned, this is not "The Story of Cinema". This is "The Story of Cinema according to Mark Cousins' point of view". Fair enough, the man wrote and directed the whole thing. But his choices became more and more puzzling to me, as the episodes went by and the story entered the 1970s. I was curious about how he'd treat the classic period of horror movies, for example; how the genre produced some of the most daring (and influential) films of the past 50 years. Surprise! He only mentions "The Exorcist". No "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", no "Carrie" (hey, De Palma is only mentioned by name), not a single mention of the Italian giallos. Another example: animated films. There's one "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" here, one "Toy Story" there - and that's it. Again, not a single mention of Hayao Miyazaki, for example; or Pixar ("Toy Story" is only mentioned because it's the first completely digital animated film). I know it'd be practically impossible to cover everything movie-related, but to almost ignore two genres is, in my opinion, baffling.

    And as the series came to a close, another thing got on my nerves: Cousins' love of superlatives. The man LOVES superlatives. On the last two or three episodes, basically every film he puts on screen is "one of the best this", "one of the most that". I ended up laughing whenever he said it - and I even laughed at things that shouldn't be laughed, like the beauty of the final shots of "Breaking the Waves".

    In the end, Cousins left me exhausted. I didn't watch The Story of Film, I watched Movies Mark Cousins Thinks That Matter. It felt like talking to someone who has obviously a great knowledge, but should learn one or two things about persuasion. As a viewer, Mark should leave me salivating for these amazing films I didn't know. Instead, he just sounded repetitive, without arguments. Several movie clips spoke for themselves; I'll definitely be checking some of the stuff he showed. But I doubt I'll be checking any more stuff Mark Cousins produces.
    helpful•82
    20
    • your crowbar
    • Sep 23, 2013

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 3, 2011 (United Kingdom)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Official site
      • Channel 4 (United Kingdom)
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Filmin hikâyesi: Uzun ve maceralı bir yolculuk
    • Production companies
      • Hopscotch Films
      • UK Film Council
      • British Film Institute (BFI)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour
    • Color
      • Color

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