In The Arts of Cinema, Martin Seel explores film's connections to the other arts and the qualities that distinguishe it from them. In nine concise and elegantly written chapters, he explores the cinema's singular aesthetic potential and uses specific examples from a diverse range of films--from Antonioni and Hitchcock to The Searchers and The Bourne Supremacy--to demonstrate the many ways this potential can be realized. Seel's analysis provides both a new perspective on film as a comprehensive aesthetic experience and a nuanced understanding of what the medium does to us once we are in the cinema.

Opening Credits: Affairs-The Site of the Cinema-"Film"-The Course of Things-The Film Program1. Film as Architecture: A Beginning-Division of Space-Ambient Sound-Some Opening Credits-Landscapes-Two Extremes-An Ending-Spatial Imagination-More Opening Credits2. Film as Music: A Prelude-Time Connections-Action (1)-Double Motion-Action (2)-Spaces of Time-Higher Rhythm-Explosion3. Film as Image: People Waiting-Pictorial Appearing-Image and Movement-Photography and Film-Another Trip- The Promise of Photography-Image Analysis-The Promise of Film-Another Ending4. Film as Spectacle: Anarchy-Division of Space, Again-Virtuality-Sculpturality- Actors-Voices-Theatricality-Attractionism-Ecstasy5. Film as Narrative: Three Films-Abstinence-Narrative Disposition-Telling Stories-Perspectivity-Filmic Storytelling-Cinema's Temporal Form-The Present Past6. Film as Exploration: In Baghdad-Urban Landscapes-Realities-Processes of Documentation-A Double Promise-Techniques of Fiction- Questions of Style-Loss of Control-References to the World-The End7. Film as Imagination: At Bakersfield-An Illusionistic Interpretation-The Figure of the Illusionist-Illusion and Immersion-Imagination Not Illusion-Photography and Film, Again-Twofold Attention-Illusion as a Technique-Caché8. Film as Emotion: The End, Yet Again-The Illusionist's Final Appearance- Motion and Emotion-Corporeality-Sensate Understanding- Expressivity-Engagement-Twofold Attention, Again-Mixed Emotions-Godard9. Film as Philosophy: Flashbacks-Another Affair-Three Dimensions-Cine- anthropology-Active Passivity-An Encore-Landscapes, Once AgainClosing Credits: Notice-Thanks