My First Movie

December 31, 2007
In this thoroughly engaging set of long-form interviews, Lowenstein coaxes a second volume of candid responses out of some of the best directors working today on the subject of their first feature films. As an interviewer, Lowenstein, a British writer and director, has a gift for rigor, and he leads his subjects to explore the details of their early careers, from their primitive student films to the finished product of studio-distributed movies. Richard Linklater sets the pace in the first piece with an exhilarating argument for taking the independent path-less-traveled, while Terry Gilliam speaks eloquently of the difficulties of breaking out of the sketch comedy expectations set by his work with Monty Python. In other pieces, Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly chats about the difficulties of being both a frat boy and a film school student at USC, and Sam Mendes affably describes his impressive transition from theater director to Oscar-winning filmmaker with just one movie, American Beauty. In addition to its in-depth access, the book includes a refreshingly international breadth of directors, including Alejandro Gonzales Intilde;arritu on his bloody anthology Amores Perros, and Takeshi Kitano on his even bloodier first feature Violent Cop. Shekhar Kapur\x92s recollection of his early career in Bollywood is perhaps the highlight of the engrossing collection.

January 15, 2008
This sequel to "My First Movie" (2001) follows the same format of interviews with notable directors about the making of their first films, featuring an eclectic mix of American and international filmmakers, including Richard Linklater ("Slacker"), Sam Mendes ("American Beauty"), and Alejandro Gonzlez Irritu ("Amores perros"). The lively and in-depth interviews are conducted once again by British documentarian Lowenstein. Each artist's journey to create his or her first major work makes for engrossing reading for fellow filmmakers and casual movie buffs alike. Monty Python alum Terry Gilliam discusses the difficulties of completing his fantastic "Jabberwocky" on a limited budget; Richard Kelly talks about his belief in his script for the now cult classic "Donnie Darko". The conversations range from the overall artistic vision of each director to technical aspects to the nuts and bolts of financing a movie. The mix of older and newer, major and minor films and directors makes the collection a real winner. Including short biographies of each director, this is recommended for larger public libraries and all academic film collections.Dave Valencia, Seattle P.L.

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