Jim Hoberman's 'The Magic Hour' Translated into French by Capricci

French publisher Capricci has released a French translation of Jim Hoberman's 'The Magic Hour', a collection of film criticism originally published in the Village Voice between 1991 and 2001. Hoberman, a longtime critic for the weekly, uses cinema to explore American political and social history, from the Gulf War to 9/11. The book draws on Siegfried Kracauer's concept of film as a reflection of national mentality, analyzing blockbusters and B-movies alike to diagnose collective emotional fixations. Key comparisons include Robert Altman's 'Nashville' and Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws', both from 1975, which Hoberman reads as responses to Watergate and the Vietnam War. The translation is part of a broader effort to introduce American film criticism to French readers, alongside works by Jonathan Rosenbaum, Mark Rappaport, and Manny Farber.