Cinemaps

October 16, 2017
Illustrator DeGraff follows Plotted: A Literary Atlas with a new batch of intricate and inventive illustrations, this time geared toward movie buffs. DeGraff uses his fondness for creative cartography to plot key scenes in 35 of his favorite films, including classics (North by Northwest), westerns (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly), indies (Rushmore), rom-coms (The Breakfast Club), and horror films (The Shining). His maps serve as visual interpretations of films. He diagrams characters’ journeys through the plot lines or key scenes, creating a dense and dreary industrial cityscape with gouache lines and charcoal for the movie Metropolis and trippy, colorful, psychedelic aerial view of Oz for The Wizard of Oz. While visually striking and conceptually innovative, many of the maps are so detailed that they are hard to follow and they don’t always connect to the movies in a clear or meaningful way. For example, the map for Clueless is pink with several blue buildings and a few bike roads with bikers pictured, which conjures up no scenes from the film. Luckily film critic Jameson’s corresponding essays add clarity by summarizing each movie plot, and sharing bits of trivia (how Metropolis influenced Babe: Pig in the City) as well as thematic discussions such as on the varying uses of labyrinths and puzzles in the film Labyrinth. Readers will come to the book for DeGraff’s illustrations, but Jameson’s essays are what keep the pages turning.