Lombardo expands upon the intuitions of Baudelaire, proposing a new
understanding of cinephilia as the interplay of the memory and the
imagination of both filmmakers and spectators. Films by Scorsese, Lynch,
Jarmusch and Van Sant are presented as imaginative uses of the history
of cinema, as well as the histories of painting, music, literature and
photography. Quotations, allusions, and more complex stylistic devices
combine to become conscious or unconscious re-elaborations of works from
the past and the present. The question of spectators' participation is
discussed at length, alongside detailed analysis that aims to
disentangle the various elements within specific film sequences.