Just like people, cinema seeks out is own kind. It finds a kindred soul in violence, since film and violence are both obsessed with gazing; film produces gazes while violence invites them. The result is guilty visions, sometimes implicated and in cahoots with aesthetics, morality, beauty and justice; the depth of pain, or the superficial nature of a wound.

Leonardo Gandini is a professor of film history and criticism, and film aesthetics at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. He has written many books about classic and contemporary film, including Tod Browning, Brian De Palma, Quentin Tarantino, regista pulp, Howard Hawks: Scarface, Billy Wilder, Il film noir americano, Jerry Schatzberg: fotografo e cineasta, Sydney Pollack: il cinema, i film, and Ventuno per undici: fare cinema dopo l'11 settembre.