The “Second Time Around” column was born from the invitation of Rob White, editor of Film Quarterly, and grew up under his inspiring discipline. Hardly less fortunate was the constant and unstinted support of Lee Edelman, Franco Moretti, and Garrett Stewart, cherished friends who time after time—after time—gave me the benefit of their resourceful minds. Joining this team later on, Ramsey McGlazer and Martin Zirulnik caused me to wonder how I had managed without their acuity. And at Columbia University Press, Philip Leventhal made this volume possible during an impossible time.
Many others helped and heartened along the way. I gratefully register herewith the Society of Friends of the Column: Jason Adams, Matt Bell, Fareed Ben-Youssef, Stephen Best, Tyler Blakeney, Angus Brown, Robert Buck, Frank Burke, Eric Burstyn, Frances Ferguson, Philip Fisher, Amanpal Garcha, Lalitha Golipan, Jonathan Mark Hall, Neil Hertz, Marianne Kaletsky, Ben Kolstad, David Kurnick, Joseph Litvak, Heather Love, Laura Mullen, George Murdoch, Samuel Otter, Ben Parker, Kent Puckett, Hiroki Sato, Elaine Scarry, Anna Schectman, Joel Score, Elizabeth Simpson, Yoshiki Tajiri, Rebecca Walkowitz, Brandon White, Hiroki Yoshikuni, and Damon Young.
With twelve columns achieved, I’d planned to round them up to a baker’s dozen with a concluding installment on The Birds called “Last Time Around.” But I was unlucky. The Blu-ray release (my pretext) kept being delayed, and then, while I was tardily figuring out what to say about it, my editor-patron left the journal. For a long time, this unwritten thirteenth column nagged at me like a picture frame I had left empty. I seized a second chance to put something in it when Professor Motonori Sato—kindlier than he knew—invited me to lecture on The Birds at the Annual Japan Film Studies Conference in Kyoto. The final column, along with my introduction, appears here for the first time.
I dedicate this book to an enduring friend, Steven Ho; two such could never be granted.