Review of Stone Reader

This documentary is far more dramatic than it at first appears. Markowitz, a documentary film maker, has discovered a copy of The Stones of Summer, read it, finds it to be brilliant, and looks for more by the author. When he finds no further works, and that no one has apparently read or heard of the novel or its author, he sets off in search of the author by chasing down and interviewing everyone associated with the book: the NY Times book reviewer, the editor, agent, cover artist, etc. He learns that the author, Dow Mossman, attended the Iowa Writer's Workshop with several well received writers, and he interviews the professors and classmates. At the University of Iowa archives he finds Mossman's drafts and notes, and begins to realize that Mossman was obsessed with the book, struggling through many hand written rewrites, resisting the editor, and surrendering the novel for publication under great duress. A retired professor lets on that he feels responsible for pushing Mossman over the edge into an insane asylum. Markowitz finally meets Mossman, living alone in the decrepit and disheveled house he grew up in. We focus on the moth holes in his sweater and his disintegrating shoes, and we understand that publication of his novel was the apogee of his existence, that ever since his life has been a failure. He works for the local newspaper, not as a journalist, but as a truck loader. The interviews with Mossman are painful to watch.

The movie builds steam, and by the end you are aware that you have experienced two characters' arc, Mossman's and Markowitz'. The film is handicapped by poor and uneven photography (even by cinema verite standards), owing perhaps to the volunteer crew and absence of a focus puller. But this isn't really about cinematography, it's about the agony of the artist and the price he pays. Literature can be a cruel mistress, destroying her lovers capriciously.