pmw
04-01-2004, 02:52 PM
Stone Reader is a dvd I've been meaning to watch for several months now. I finally did today, and I'm so glad.
Documentary filmmaker Mark Moskowitz read a book in 1972 after reading a rave review of it in the NY Times. The book was called The Stones of Summer written by Dow Mossman. Revisiting the book 30 years later, Moskowitz is amazed to discover what he believes to be one of the ten best first novels of the century, and he immediately searches for Mossman's subsequent works. But there are none - no novels, no short stories, no mentions of Mossman at all in fact. Perplexed, Moskowitz sets out to discover how a young author and his critically acclaimed book can simply drop off the map.
The film is an obsessive search for clues to the Dow Mossman story and is a warm tale of passionate admiration and a drive to keep something from falling into complete obscurity.
It is also the story of Mossman's professional obsession with his one and only great novel.
I resist giving away anything about the resolution because it drives the film. In it's highly personalized, autobiographical approach the film is very much in the vain of a Ross McElwee effort, and is a must see.
PMW
Documentary filmmaker Mark Moskowitz read a book in 1972 after reading a rave review of it in the NY Times. The book was called The Stones of Summer written by Dow Mossman. Revisiting the book 30 years later, Moskowitz is amazed to discover what he believes to be one of the ten best first novels of the century, and he immediately searches for Mossman's subsequent works. But there are none - no novels, no short stories, no mentions of Mossman at all in fact. Perplexed, Moskowitz sets out to discover how a young author and his critically acclaimed book can simply drop off the map.
The film is an obsessive search for clues to the Dow Mossman story and is a warm tale of passionate admiration and a drive to keep something from falling into complete obscurity.
It is also the story of Mossman's professional obsession with his one and only great novel.
I resist giving away anything about the resolution because it drives the film. In it's highly personalized, autobiographical approach the film is very much in the vain of a Ross McElwee effort, and is a must see.
PMW