Alex Sheremet presents one
of the most thorough and considered critiques of Woody Allen’s complete body of
cinema work as well as the critical debates that surround it in his just-released
eBook, Woody Allen: Reel to Real …
but Sheremet’s text is only part of the full story.
New York, NY November 23, 2014
Everyone has an
opinion of Woody Allen, whether those opinions come from a learned perspective,
or from the tabloids … and Sheremet’s excitingly exhaustive analysis is the
perfect fodder to generate and further this unique form of dialogue.
According to
Dan Schneider, noted critic, author and founder of Cosmoetica,
“Woody Allen: Reel To Real is a seminal book in film criticism that
eschews the lowest common denominator thumbs up/thumbs down approach to film
criticism, in favor of an in depth and objective
look at the films, themselves, as works of art.” Calling it a “revolutionary
tool,” he hopes that it will “inspire a
younger generation of art critics, in all forms and genre, to transcend their
own limits, just as every cineaste and art aesthete hopes to do for
themselves.”
The genesis of
this DigiDialogue
is the Woody Allen: Reel to Real
website, established some months ago to have Sheremet and his readers further
explore, expand and explain the theses he presents. On that site one can find a
combination of faithful summaries of the key chapters of this book and one key
chapter in its entirety … all married to dedicated ‘Comment Boxes’ that serve
to propagate the dialogue.
This first version
of the book contains Sheremet’s complete and original text in its entirety plus
the initial dialogue that ensued from the DigiDialogue web-site.
The dialogue
between Sheremet and noted writers and critics, including Jonathan Rosenbaum
and the aforementioned Dan Schneider, highlight much of Sheremet’s unique perspective
on Woody Allen and Sheremet’s view of the debates that accompany him.
Updated versions
of this book will be released in the future, containing the continuing dialogue,
as well as Sheremet’s essay-length responses to his own critics … and will be
made available to all official purchasers free of charge. (The details can be
found in the Publisher's Note inside the book.)
About Take2
Publishing
Take2 Publishing is not just a dedicated publisher
of books as ‘bits and bytes’, but is also one of the world’s first virtual
publishers. Although centered in New York, Take2 Publishing employs editors,
copy editors, researchers and more in cities all over the world, including New
York, London, Melbourne, Tel-Aviv, Kiev, St. Louis, San Diego, Los Angeles … and
many more.
All of its publications are primarily made up of
previously published articles, whether they are found on-line, or from books,
magazines and newspapers.
There are three book series in development
including The Take2 Guides (“for
those too smart to search!”), Cities in
Cinema, and DigiDialogues.
A DigiDialogue is a process and a
product that results with a published eBook where the dialogue between the
author and the audience becomes part of the final ‘copy’.
One of the key aims of Take2 Publishing is to
bring wider public attention to the wonderful writings that are extremely
difficult to find in a world drowning in slight and contrite verbiage.
Take2 books are not just an amalgamation of
articles in a dreary package, the primary objective of Take2 Publishing is to
publish books that must maintain a traditional linear narrative in form, not
necessarily of time and place, but of ideas and opinion … and add substance to
the discourse on the subject.
All Take2 books are published in all recognized
digital formats and are available at all key eBook retail sites including
Amazon, Google Play, Kobo, Nook Press and Apple’s iBookstore.
Take2 Publishing also maintains its own online
retail store for direct purchases in all formats.
Contact Information:
John Pruzanski
(646) 535 1718
About Alex
Sheremet
Alex Sheremet is a young writer from Belarus. A
poet, critic, and novelist, he became interested in film as a means of furthering
his own art, and chose to stay because of everything else that film has taught
him.
Alex’s debut novel (A Few Streets More To Kensington) deals
with classic tropes of childhood -- nostalgia, curiosity, and the wars of
self -- now transposed to the streets of Brooklyn, and examined through an
artist’s reluctant gaze. Rich, melancholy, and contemplative, the tale follows
its protagonist well into his teenage years, and inevitably asks the same
questions that have already been parsed for millennia. Yet, for all that,
violence, friendship, video games, femme fatales, 9/11, and Hasidic Jews
abound, for while this may not have been your reality,
it certainly was the narrator’s, and that of many others. The book,
therefore, subsists on the ‘magic’ of the 1990s, and remains one of the few
comprehensive depictions of that era – even as it transcends it, too.
Alex’s second book (Doors & Exits: Some Cues From A Study Of Two Extremes) is a ‘docudrama’ that probes the follies and
accomplishments of the 21st Century, all within the world of a single,
fictional school in New York City. Beginning with three philosophical axioms
that, in the narrator’s mind, define the universe and its machinations, the
book adjusts, rejects, and renews them till the very end. But while the
book’s place may be a fabrication, its conflicts are not, for its characters
(kids, teachers, and those somewhere in between) have a reality someplace,
somewhere, and will repeat themselves – ad nauseam – for as
long as we’re recognizably human. This is the little-known difference
between Truth and Reality, and Alex’s novel -- a ‘genuine fake’! -- straddles
both.
Alex’s third book (
Woody Allen: Reel To Real)
is the most comprehensive analysis of Woody Allen’s films ever
published, and is the summation of everything that he’s learned thus far
in cinema. Hailed as a “seminal” and “revolutionary” book by poet and
critic Dan Schneider (Cosmoetica), Alex’s style of criticism is
straightforward, beginning with a single assertion: that art can (and should!)
be evaluated, and that a critic’s job is above all to evaluate.
His hope is that the reader will come away knowing more of art and cinema as a
whole, and be able to apply these ideas to new art-works in a way that’s
logically consistent and self-sufficient, all the while avoiding the common
pitfalls of artistic criticism. Woody Allen’s films are especially conducive to
this view, for while not everyone has thought, felt, or suffered what his characters
do, Woody’s creations still depict reality -- however small a portion -- and
subsist within it. To miss this is to miss the work, and simply be left with
one’s own biases and limitations.
Alex graduated Valedictorian of Macaulay Honors
College in New York City with a BA in Classical Studies, English, and
Education. His work has appeared on Cosmoetica, BlogCritics, Scholastic, and
other publications.
