STONE READER A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2003 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ****
"There are some pleasures that simply never run out, and books are one of them," author Frank Conroy, the director of the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, says to Mark Moskowitz in his absolutely mesmerizing STONE READER. The documentary is structured as an engrossing detective story as Moskowitz, a compulsive reader, tries to track down Dow Mossman. Mossman's 1972 novel, "The Stones of Summer," is a book that Moskowitz read in his youth and could not stop thinking about. Most of his friends who tried to read it gave up on it before finishing it, which is what happened to Moskowitz at first as well. But once he got into the book's dense prose, he found it to be brilliant, which is what the New York Times book review said at the time.
Like Harper Lee ("To Kill a Mockingbird") and Margaret Mitchell ("Gone with the Wind"), Mossman is what is known in the book trade as a "one and done" author. After his first great novel, which had only a modest run, he disappeared entirely. He poured half a decade of his life into his novel and then vanished.
The beauty of this page-turner of a documentary comes from more than just the quest to find the elusive Mossman. The journey is the reward as Moskowitz interviews authors, publishers, teachers and friends. The conversations always involve the search for information about Mossman, but they end up being more about the joy of reading. Never has the act of reading been more celebrated in film. The exquisite pleasure of the movie is hard to describe, much as Moskowitz is hard pressed to explain his obsession with "The Stones of Summer." When, at a recent screening, he let me hold and look through his original copy of the book -- pages held together only by a rubber band -- I felt like he had entrusted the Holy Grail to me for safe keeping.
In another recent documentary, CON MAN, about a CATCH ME IF YOU CAN-type impersonator, it wasn't clear whether the subject of the film would ever be located. When he was, he made a disappointing interviewee since he was so mysterious and obtuse in person. Knowing this, I found myself strangely hoping that Mossman would forever remain a mystery. I'm not going to tell you whether Mossman is located and whether "The Stones of Summer" is finally back in print. Other reviewers probably will. I'll let you find out when you see the movie. This much I will say. There is nothing about STONE READER that I would have changed. Okay, there is one. It is one of the few films which runs a little over two hours that I truly wish had been longer. I loved this movie and could easily have watched it for hours more.
STONE READER runs 2:07. It is not rated but would be a G and acceptable for all ages.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, March 21, 2003. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the Camera Cinemas. The movie was shown recently at the Camera Cinema Club (http://www.cameracinemas.com/club) of Campbell and San Jose.
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