Start to Finish

Starred review from September 15, 2014
“The secret voice of being telling us/ that where we disappear is where we are,” is written in the confident, inviting, yet almost “always mournful, always sad” voice Strand has sustained for 50 years, in blank verse, chiseled stanzas, and compact prose poems. Nothingness, the void; solipsism, the lure of the mirror; blank otherness, as seen in the moon and the seashore—these simple symbols predominate in oeuvre most influential in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when its stripped-down lyrics and asides matched a national trend. Later, the former U.S. Poet Laureate and 1999 Pulitzer Prize–winner leavened the bleakness with avuncular jokes, extended meditative passages, and comical alter egos. Now based in Madrid and teaching at Columbia University, Strand enjoys wide respect among poetry’s institutions. First-time readers may be surprised at the short length of the volume, which is Strand’s first collected edition, but they may also find it absorbing in its focus on first and last things. For all the streamlined sadness of his dreamlike domain, Strand remains aware of other poets, which is particularly evident in his homages, translations, and elegies. His recent string of short sardonic prose poems are all quite distinct from one another, but all are instantly, recognizably Strand, “erasing the world and leaving instead/ The invisible lines of its calling: Out there, out there.”

July 31, 2017
Lax (Faith, Interrupted), author of several books on Woody Allen including a 1991 biography, charts the director’s creative process, from script writing through postproduction, using the 2015 film Irrational Man as a case study. Lax’s book provides a clear and entertaining introduction to the moviemaking process, one that explains the roles of various collaborators in the process such as the casting director, production designer, and sound mixer. Over half of the book covers the movie shoot, on location in Rhode Island. Lax includes numerous script excerpts to provide context, so familiarity with the movie isn’t a prerequisite to reading the book. Having clearly enjoyed an impressive level of access to Allen, Lax includes a generous number of quotations from him, including reminiscences about past works and thoughts on cinema in general, which fans will savor. Allen reveals, for example, that he’s unimpressed by much classic screen comedy, saying that “I actually laugh at the Marx Brothers, at certain Bob Hope movies, and W.C. Fields,” but not “much else.” Cast members Emma Stone and Parker Posey both share the actor’s perspective, though the absence of Joaquin Phoenix, the film’s lead, is notable. Any disappointment that the book covers one of Allen’s less-celebrated films quickly dissipates as the reader becomes immersed in the careful work that goes into his films. The book succeeds simultaneously as biographical snapshot, primer on filmmaking, and documentary of an artwork’s creation.

September 1, 2017
A Woody Allen confidant follows the legendary filmmaker step by step through the making of a movie.Whether you love him or hate him, there's no denying that Allen is one of this century's most prolific and influential filmmakers. Since 1969, he has written and directed 48 films (and acted in 27 of them), which is a mind-boggling average of one per year. For much of that time, Lax (Faith, Interrupted, 2010, etc.) has been a part of Allen's small inner circle; he is the author of three books on Allen, including a bestselling 1991 biography. Here, the director allowed the author to follow along through every step of one film: the 2015 drama Irrational Man, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone. The intimate access makes the book: Lax was in Allen's bedroom with him as he wrote the script in longhand, lying fully clothed on top of his bed--though, Allen emphasizes, scripts are often percolating in various states of completion for many years. The author walks readers through the peculiarities of how Allen movies are financed--unwilling to be held hostage to the needs of studios, Allen often pays extra costs out of his own pocket--and cast: "It seems like it's almost on every actor's bucket list to be in [a] Woody Allen film," says his longtime casting director, Juliet Taylor. Lax was there for the location scouting, the shooting itself, the editing process, and the scoring, "a rich dessert for Allen," who is passionate about jazz, classical, and the American songbook. The book is a highly personal portrait of Allen--we see his insecurities, his vulnerabilities, and his dogged pursuit of a good story, be it for comedy or for deep examination of human morality--and the narrative is ripe with anecdotes and quotes. But the real achievement is seeing in detail the arc of any creative process. Allen fans will delight in spending time with him by proxy, and anyone interested in modern film should find much of interest in this well-reported study.

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September 1, 2017
Lax, who's been chronicling Woody Allen's life and filmmaking career for more than 40 years now, takes Allen's fans where they've always wanted to go: behind the scenes of the creative process. Allen, who's directed nearly 50 movies since 1969, attracts the creme de la creme of actors; his films are routinely nominated for Academy Awards (Allen himself has won four Oscars, three for writing and one for directing); he works without studio notes or interference; and his movies are incredibly varied, ranging from broad slapstick to ultraserious dramas to fantasies to mockumentaries to genteel comedies to, well, whatever he sets his mind to. Using as its framework Allen's work-in-progress at the time, Irrational Man, which was released in 2015 and starred Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone, this wonderfully insightful book shows us how Allen writes his moviesoften flicking back and forth between different scriptsand how he casts them, decides on their locations, and gets them on film. Lax's splendid look at how one man makes movies will be essential reading to all Allen followers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

September 15, 2017

Woody Allen biographer Lax (coauthor, Bogart; Conversations with Woody Allen) utilizes his longtime and close access to the prolific film director and reaffirms the admiring and somewhat celebratory tone of his earlier works as he describes the making of the 2015 film Irrational Man. From script writing to market distribution, Lax observes Allen's actions and attitudes, quoting him extensively. Detailed treatments of the director's controlling work and power in every aspect of the task--writing the script, finding money, hiring actors and production workers, visiting and picking locations, designing sets, determining camera angles, and selecting music--are interspersed throughout the narrative. Allen's delight and caring for the person and performance of starring actress Emma Stone as Jill, the wide-eyed student, seems to eclipse his excitement over somber Joaquin Phoenix as Abe, the philosophy professor and existentially inclined murderer. In conclusion, Allen nods to the existence of the binge-watching experience on the small screen and looks in that direction. VERDICT Man isn't Allen's most dazzling creation, but revelations of his directorial style and insights into the future of the radically changing film industry will make this volume appealing to film scholars and Woody Allen fans. [See Prepub Alert, 4/24/17.]--Ann Fey, SUNY Rockland Community Coll., Suffern

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2017

An expert in all things Woody Allen, Lax has already given us On Being Funny (1975), the international best seller Woody Allen: A Biography (1991), and Conversations with Woody Allen (2007). Here he clarifies Allen's filmmaking by taking us to the set of 2015's Irrational Man.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.