The Story of Film: An Odyssey

About the film

The Story of Film: An Odyssey is a 2011 British documentary film about the history of film, presented on television in 15 one-hour chapters with a total length of over 900 minutes. It was directed and narrated by Mark Cousins, a film critic from Northern Ireland, based on his 2004 book The Story of Film.

The series was broadcast in September 2011 on More4, the digital television service of British broadcaster Channel 4. The Story of Film was featured in its entirety at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, and at the 2012 Istanbul International Film Festival. It was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in February 2012. It was broadcast in the United States on Turner Classic Movies, beginning in September 2013.

Episodes

The Arrival of Multiplexes and Asian Mainstream

New American Independents & The Digital Revolution

Critical reception

The film earned critical praise. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 86% of 7 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.1/10. Shawn Levy, writing for The Oregonian, compared it to "a tour through a museum with a deeply passionate and engaging guide." Mark Feeny, in The Boston Globe, described it as "wildly ambitious, often extremely good, occasionally maddening, and always stimulating."

Some critics took issue with Cousins' speaking style, and with portions of his analysis. Village Voice critic Nick Pinkerton argued Cousins took an inconsistent and iconoclastic stance against Hollywood in favour of realist or innovative cinema, stating "for all its claims of rewriting, [The Story of Film] is too reliant on received film buff wisdom". Writing for Film Comment, Jonathan Rosenbaum was specifically critical of Cousins' view of experimental film, stating "Cousins has a weakness for overwrought yard sales, as his unswerving devotion to Baz Luhrmann, Christopher Nolan, and Lars von Trier repeatedly demonstrates — as well as an obvious lack of ease and fluency when it comes to experimental filmmaking in general, a discomfort that someone like (Matthew) Barney banks on by providing a “digestible” mainstream alternative, rather as Nolan’s Memento provides an unthreatening crossword-puzzle version of the early features of Alain Resnais."

Accolades

Runner-up for Best Documentary Feature—2012 Palm Springs International Film Festival

Stanley Kubrick Award—2012 Traverse City Film Festival

2021 follow-up

A 2-hour-and-20-minute follow-up covering films from 2010 to 2021, titled The Story of Film: A New Generation, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in July 2021. It was released in UK cinemas and on streaming platforms in December 2021.

Key details