True Films 3.0 - Kevin Kelly

Stone Reader
Everyone has a book they read as a teenager that changed their life. When
he was 17, the guy making this documentary read a book review in the
New York Times that heralded a new first novel by a young author as the
voice of his generation, and one of the greatest novels written. Our guy
never finished the book, but later in his 50’s (that’s now) he finally reads
the whole thing and decides that it was indeed one of the greatest novels
ever written. But there’s not a trace of the brilliant author anywhere
including the web. How odd! He writes one of the best books ever, which
no one reads, and then disappears. None of the teachers, critics, editors
who worked on the book, or even his agent knows what happened to
him. The film then becomes a quest for this disappeared genius. The
obsessed director travels all around the country trying to track him
down. Along the way, he interviews book-nerdy friends, famous authors,
librarians, wise old professors, writing teachers, and anyone else with
something to say about the meaning of reading and novels, and maybe
some clue on the destiny of this one-time genius. Perhaps he is still alive
secretly writing great unpublished books in his drawer? The more elusive
the author becomes, the deeper the filmmaker gets into the power of
books to change our lives. This is a film about the love of reading, and
the difficulty of making something worth reading. It’s quirky, vibrant,
personal, and original. As a reader and devourer of books, I loved it.
By Mark Moskowitz
2002, 128 min.
Available from Amazon
Rent from Netflix
The original manuscript of the elusive
book (left). The original paperback
copy that set the whole quest in motion
(below).
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