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Directed by: Mark Moskowitz Starring: A bunch of literary types One of the downsides of living in a small town is the small number of documentaries one sees. This year, I've seen a couple of the big ones — "The Fog of War" and "Capturing the Friedmans" — but no small ones. In "Stone Reader," avid reader and documentarian Mark Moskowitz recounts his experience with Dow Mossman's "The Stones of Summer." When he was a teenager, he started reading the book, but lost interest, put it down and delayed finishing it for almost thirty years. When he picked it back up, he fell in love with the book and went online to search for more of Mossman's work, only to find the man has all but disappeared after writing this small masterpiece. In the course of several years, Moskowitz interviews book critics, literary agents and fellow writers to track down Mossman, who has ... well, I won't spoil it. Moskowitz's film spends a lot of time — I mean, a lot of time, so much time that people who don't enjoy the pacing of books sure won't enjoy the pacing of this film — exploring the many facets of literary love and fear: writer's block; the joy he felt upon reading "Catch-22" as a teen; the knowledge (as both a writer and reader) that there are so many books in this world it's easy for a book, sometimes the product of several years of an author's life, to be forgotten; nervous breakdowns; and, most importantly, the profound sense of oneness with the author when the reader reads a particularly effective passage. The interviews are languid, unfocused and ultimately disappointing, as Moskowitz spends several minutes with each source discussing books other than Mossman's — that he left those portions in the film serve as a love letter to book fans who wish they had the same opportunities, but they also take some punchiness from the final product — and Moskowitz doesn't help matters much by refusing to reference authors by first names and books by full titles; even if one were to attempt to enjoy the breadth of these conversations, he would be lost. In trying to make an intensely personal film about a universal love, Moskowitz sacrifices some of that wide appeal by seeming self-serving. However, for a film with such wonderful pluses, this is a small minus. Sure, it's long at 127 minutes for a documentary with such a static subject, but there are moments of sheer beauty captured by Moskowitz, especially when he casts his own son as his inner child, who can be seen walking along with some of these hallowed literary idols during interviews and in moments when Moskowitz is reflecting on his past as a reader. It's extremely inspirational. By the end of the film, I wanted to finish reading all my William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor, as well as everything else on my shelf — and as a writer, I wanted to get back to penning short stories, and maybe a novel. The only thing I fear is that Moskowitz's film will suffer the same fate Mossman's book did. Like I said, I live in a small town and in the last four days, when I've been meaning to rent it, both copies have been on the shelf — rather discouraging for a new release when a guaranteed title (and guaranteed shitfest) like "The Perfect Score" is always checked out. RATING: 4.5 PROS: Presents an almost spiritual view of books that is inspiring to readers and would-be authors alike CONS: Pacing flags a little ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0324080/ Keanu Grieves fucked around with this message at 09:28 on Jul 3, 2004 |
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Jul 3, 2004 09:14
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