Mottram, James

PERSONAL:

Male.

ADDRESSES:

Home—London, England. Office— Independent House, 191 Marsh Wall, London E14 9RS, England.

CAREER:

Journalist and writer. Independent, London, England, columnist. Has also worked on films, including City by the Sea, extras casting associate, 2002, and Inside Man, extras casting assistant, 2006.

WRITINGS:

Public Enemies: The Gangster Movie A to Z, Batsford (London, England), 1998.

The Coen Brothers: The Life of the Mind, Batsford (London, England), 2000.

The Making of Memento, Faber & Faber (London, England), 2002.

The Sundance Kids: How the Mavericks Took Back Hollywood, Faber & Faber (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Journalist James Mottram has written several books about movies and film making, including The Sundance Kids: How the Mavericks Took Back Hollywood. In his book, the author focuses on the works of one-time independent filmmakers such as Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, and Spike Jonze, as well as younger colleagues such as Sofia Coppola. The author's primary thesis is that following the success of Soderbergh's film sex, lies & videotape after its showing at the 1989 Sundance Film Festival, a new Golden Age in filmmaking—much like that experienced during the late 1960s and early 1970s—began as more directors outside of the Hollywood loop were given a chance to make films within the established film industry. Writing in Variety, Danny Graydon commented that the author's "coverage, alternately thematic and historic, benefits hugely from the impressive array of original interviews with key players." Olivia Glazebrook noted in the Spectator Mottram's "hilarious turn of phrase" as he wrote about various movies. Observer contributor Philip French wrote that "dedicated moviegoers will be fascinated by the minutiae, and Mottram is lively, well informed and writes with clarity." In a review in the Independent, Kim Newman commented that the book "works best when it follows their [the directors'] intertwined careers, mixing artistic and commercial anecdotage with analysis of recent movies."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 1, 2006, Gordon Flagg, review of The Sundance Kids: How the Mavericks Took Back Hollywood, p. 12.

Hollywood Reporter, May 24, 2006, Gregory McNamee, review of The Sundance Kids, p. 8.

Independent (London, England), May 1, 2006, Kim Newman, review of The Sundance Kids.

Library Journal, April 1, 2006, Stephen Rees, review of The Sundance Kids, p. 97.

Observer (London, England), March 12, 2006, Philip French, review of The Sundance Kids.

Publishers Weekly, February 13, 2006, review of The Sundance Kids, p. 78.

Spectator, March 25, 2006, Olivia Glazebrook, review of The Sundance Kids, p. 41.

Variety, May 22, 2006, Danny Graydon, review of The Sundance Kids, p. 51.