Buzz: "Eighteen-year-old Mark buys a novel by a little-known author and starts reading it, but is unable to get through the whole thing. Twenty-five years later, Mark decides to give the book another try and finds the story absolutely spellbinding. When he tries to buy more copies of the book, he finds that it's out of print and no one seems to know where the author can be found, sending Mark on a yearlong search for the elusive writer."
129 minutes.
What a great little film... I wasn't sure at first if I was going to like this. But eventually I became almost as interested in finding this writer and listening to what he had to say as the filmmaker was -- he makes a compelling case for the book, but he also continues to press the idea of what a writer's career trajectory can and should look like, why someone might only write one novel, etc. The film drags at times, and there were definitely moments when I tuned out because someone was going on and on about a book I wasn't interested in, but it's a big long fan letter to writing and to great books, and I didn't mind that.
I read after watching that Ebert included this film in his Overlooked Film Festival, which is held here in Champaign-Urbana every spring, and that the author attended. I wonder what he was like, what kinds of stories locals could tell about meeting and talking with him. After seeing this film, I think he might even be more interesting to talk to than Sam Shepard (not that I'm a regular at Fat Jack's).
13/5
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment