Amy Taubin

I first learned about this book – and the BFI's series of "film classics" – in a year-end issue of Artforum. Somebody I don't recall named Taubin's dissection of Martin Scorcese's 1976 film Taxi Driver as one of the ten best things of the year, alongside art exhibitions and other more Artforum-related fare. Taubin's book is definitely a solid one, focusing on the masculinity of Travis Bickle – or, more accurately, the failure of post-Vietnam War masculinity. It's an interpretation that suitably comes from a woman – I could not see a male critic writing a book on the film in a similar vein. And that might be the most commendable aspect of choosing Taubin: illuminating another way of thinking about a film whose popularity covers a number of difficult and ambiguous themes.… (meer)