Michael Ondaatje, scrittore de Il Paziente Inglese, intervista Walter Murch, montatore tra gli altri proprio de Il Paziente inglese, La Conversazione, Il padrino III e Apocalypse Now.
Il libro è basato su alcune conversazioni avvenute a distanza di tempo, con argomenti che spaziano dagli aspetti più tecnici del fare cinema, del montaggio e del modo geniale di Murch utilizzare il suono, a quelli invece più personali come le ispirazioni e la vita di entrambi.
La trovo una lettura importante per chiunque ami il cinema in quanto fornisce tantissime informazioni utili che aiutano a vedere i film in modo più consapevole, oltre che a regalare molti spunti su scrittura e creatività in generale.

A fantastic book-length interview that finds the pulse beneath the art of film and sound editing. I reread it every time I'm editing a project, and Walter Murch always gives me fresh insights and inspiration.

اغراق نکرده‌ام اگر بگویم خواندن این کتاب در چه‌گونگی فهم یک فیلم و نیز در چه‌گونگی به کار بردن تمهیدات سینمایی برای انتقال مفاهیم، به من کمک کرد. از خواندنش خوشحالم و افسوس که در میان کتاب‌های سینمایی از این قبیل آثار را به ندرت می‌توان یافت. شاید علتش همان باشد که خود والتر مرچ می‌گوید (نقل به مضمون): سینما هنر جوانی‌ست و هنوز زبان آن به شکل مدون جمع‌آوری نشده است.
ترجمه‌ی کتاب قابل قبول است اما شلخته و پر از اشتباهات ساده‌ای که به نظر می‌رسد با یک بار خواندن دقیق قابل حل بوده است. این اشتباهات آدم را نسبت به صحت متن دچار شک می‌کند. نمونه‌ی ساده‌اش این است که والتر مرچ و مایکل انداچ (مصاحبه‌شونده و مصاحبه‌کننده) یکی در میان همدیگر را تو و شما خطاب می‌کنند! این نمونه را ببینید
کی می‌توانید بگویی قسمت‌های اضافه شده با کلیت فیلم هماهنگ است یا نه؟
عجیب آن که کتاب نام دو مترجم را روی جلد دارد. یعنی این‌دو کار همدیگر را نمی‌خوانده‌اند؟
نکته‌ی دیگر ترجمه‌ی نامأنوس برخی اصطلاحات است. مثلاً کتاب و فیلم «سبکی تحمل ناپذیر هستی» که به فارسی «بار هستی» ترجمه شده است، در چند جای کتاب با هر دو عنوان ثبت شده است. یا اصطلاح
The Decisive Moment
که توسط هانری کارتیه برسون ابداع شده و بین عکاسان ایرانی به «لحظه‌ی قطعی» شناخته می‌شود، در کتاب «لحظه‌ی سرنوشت‌ساز» ترجمه شده است. همچنین اصطلاح «اسمبل کردن» که بین تدوینگران به یک فرآیند مشخص فنی اشاره دارد، ردیف کردن ترجمه شده است که می‌تواند درست باشد اما گمراه کننده است چون اصطلاحی جا نیفتاده است و ممکن است خواننده‌ی کتاب منظور را درک نکند.

o formato de entrevista - e o fato de serem várias, feitas ao longo dos anos e sem medo de retomar assuntos já abordados - faz do livro uma das coisas mais interessantes que já li sobre cinema. e a melhor sobre edição, montagem e som. inspirador para ter idéias e pensar no ofício, em soluções e inovações. e ao mesmo tempo muito mais leve do que textos escritos como teses ou manuais práticos. supera até mesmo o livro do próprio Walter Murch, In the blink of an eye.

"Let's say the dramatic slope seems to be going up too fast. Your tendency will be to do things editorially to compensate. Then when you think it's going too slow, you will shorten things or boost the intensity.
If you let that impulse completely loose out of its cage, what you'll find is that you may have pushed down a bulge at point A, but unbeknownst to you, later, at point C, there's going to be a compensating lift that you don't know about yet - no one may know about it since films are usually shot out of sequence. So by pushing down on A you will have an overreaction at C.
It's a stage in the process I call "editing with eyes half closed." You can't open your eyes completely, which is to say, you can't express your opinion unreservedly. You don't know enough yet."

"If you think of the audience's focus of attention as a dot moving around the screen, the editor's job is to carry that dot around in an interesting way. If the dot is moving from left got right and then up to the right-hand corner of the frame, when there's a cut, make sure there's something top look at in the right-hand corner of the next shot to receive that focus of interest."

Easily worth $100 for anyone doing any sound design or editing in any medium. The gems and tricks he doles out are fantastic and true. Great tidbits from all the films he worked on. Changed my understanding of what a film editor is capable of. He’s funny, inspiring, modest, and bold- highly recommend.
Now i have to read his, “In the Blink of an Eye” book!

Film/sound editor extraordinaire Walter Murch supplies the stories, acclaimed author Michael Ondaatje asks the questions in this fine book chock-full of behind-the-scenes knowledge and technique. Murch already shared ideas that are now part and parcel of the art of film editing in his book 'In the Blink of an Eye,' but this book gets more personal and delves into the relationships WM shared with other LA luminaries of the late 60s/early 70s like Coppola and Lucas. It's fascinating to learn more about the genesis of great works like 'Apocalypse Now,' 'The Godfather,' 'The Conversation,' and more. A fine and breezy read.

A most remarkable book on film editing and other aspects of film, especially sound design. I like the conversational flow of it as well. It was so dense in matter that I think I'll have to buy my own copy so I can review it further. (It wasn't even in BYU the library, and I had to get it from inter library loan.)

One of the two best books on filmmaking - this and Sidney Lumet's Making Movies is all one needs to know.

This is just a fantastic book about film editing from one of the professions masters. Murch is not only a great editor but he edited amazing films including The Conversation and Apocalypse Now (amazing, of course, in no small part, thanks to Murch's contributions.) Hearing the behind-the-scenes stories on these films and others is really fantastic but what makes this book so much more than the typical film history book is that Murch connects filmmaking to so many different disciplines--painting, literature, music, astronomy, to name a few. Murch is an intellectual but his observations are made from practical experience of the craft of filmmaking rather than a cinephile's theories based only on the finished product. Thus the grounded ideas that fill this book are fresh, elegant, and useful, the product of a lifetime of study and experience.

(Since I'm so steeped in film knowledge, it's hard for me to tell whether this is a book that can be enjoyed by the general public but I'm guessing that it can because the writing is in dialogue form and very straightforward.)

Such a fascinating read.

I❤️u, Walter murch