L becker's work throughout is illuminating, convincing, and contributes to making 'The Feel-Bad Film' a valuable text, one that helps us to unlock and unpack the complexities of extreme cinema.
Russell Williams, Los Angeles Review of Books Nikolaj Lubecker clearly and insightfully analyses many of the most controversial films of recent years by cinematic heavyweights like Michael Haneke, Lars von Trier, Claire Denis and Gus Van Sant. In doing so, he invites his readers to reconsider movies in general: maybe sometimes it's not so bad for a movie to make us feel bad. As we root around for hope at a time when it seems thin on the ground, Lubecker paradoxically conjures hope where there seemed to be none. A unique and ground-breaking work.
Dr William Brown, University of Roehampton Lubecker's book is one of the most interesting studies of films that provoke feelings of discomfort; the clear, apodictic and jargon-free writing style makes it a pleasure to read while his close readings of the films demonstrate a passion for the objects. The films are not mere illustrators of theory, but dynamic objects, whose ambiguity and provocations force us to theorise.
Angelos Koutsourakis, The Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory From tragic melodramas to spine-chilling horror, cinema is ripe with kinds of experiences that, under normal circumstances, are undesirable in our perception of reality...Nikolaj L becker's The Feel-Bad Film can be seen as a unique intervention to this broader body of work...concerned with how film-makers subvert expectations of spectators, but remain ethically virtuous so as to encourage and invoke a critical response.
Emre aglayan, New Review of Film and Television Studies If you are a programmer who did not show Rick Alverson's recent film Entertainment or Tim Sutton's new Dark Night because you were afraid you would not be able to defend the film to an angry board member, then this book is for you. The book clearly and cogently makes the case why films that challenge our ethical and moral frameworks contribute to a richer culture. I would go so far to also recommend that the book should be sold at festivals, right next to the festival T-shirt, coffee cup and beer cozy.
Mike S. Ryan, Filmmaker Magazine In this book Nikolaj Lubecker offers an astonishing engagement with contemporary trends in European and avant-garde cinema. He cuts through recent discussions of new French extremism to offer a scintillating, urgent, and original take on the subject.
Emma Wilson, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, French Studies Insightful and thought-provoking...The Feel-Bad Film offers a compelling examination of these often disparaged and overlooked films.
Kristin C. Brunnemer, Pierce College, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television The Feel-Bad Film is a compelling book that expertly argues for the importance of an oft-maligned corpus of films, deftly interweaving film-historical, film-theoretical and philosophical thought into a highly nuanced argument.
Oliver Kenny, Sciences Po Aix, Film-Philosophy