In the past 10 years, 1970s cinema has become an unqualified cult. Directors like Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson and Spike Jonze make films under its influence; fan-boy Web sites extol its glories. Not long before she died, Pauline Kael wrote that the 1970s were ‘when the movies seemed to be about things that mattered.’ Yet, there’s something troubling about the way 1970s cinema has evolved from mere fandom to become its own genre, especially among younger cinephiles.”