It's a measure of Pauline Kael's enduring influence as a film critic that in the years between her 1991 retirement and her 2001 death, fans in search of a Kael fix would seek out and discuss the magazine interviews she still gave with some regularity. The periodic dispatches from her bucolic country house usually contained a few choice words about the movies of the day—Schindler's List, Pulp Fiction, American Beauty—and those comments almost hurt to read, because those keenly attuned to Kael's work could almost imagine what a full review would look like. Some of that sad frustration creeps into Francis Davis' short book Afterglow. Whenever Kael makes an offhand comment about, for example, Magnolia, it's easy to wish that Davis would stop asking questions and just let her talk about the movie for a couple of pages. But Davis and Kael are friends, and the interview that comprises the book includes a good deal of casual give-and-take, with Davis adding his thoughts to Kael's. The duo's friendship also means that what was meant to be a career-spanning discussion, intended for broadcast on public radio, only briefly touches on such Kael-related controversies as her auteurism debates with Andrew Sarris, or the occasionally fickle relationship between her and her protégés. (More depth on the topic can be found in Philip Lopate's exhaustive article "The Passion Of Pauline Kael," available in his fine collection Totally Tenderly Tragically.) Afterglow's maddening brevity may be attributable to Kael's failing health and to the limitations of the radio-interview format; regardless, her fans should find much to treasure. As savage as she could be when confronted with undue pretension or lazy moralizing in movies, at heart Kael was an enthusiast, and Davis' book re-creates the joy of two cinema buffs swapping opinions over coffee. Kael's excitement when reflecting on her favorite directors, or her affection for contemporary television (Frasier, The West Wing, and Sex And The City were favorites) is enough to make her devotees feel like she's still alive and staying current. Of course, all it takes is a moment to wonder what she'd think about The Royal Tenenbaums or Memento, and her absence is felt again.