Thomas Pynchon: A Journey Into the Mind of P.

I am not a huge fan of Pynchon's work, but I found the books of his which I have read (five in all) difficult but worth the effort. Of course, I know about the author's mysterious, reclusive lifestyle and was curious to see a documentary on the author. However, this film is less about the author than those who try and stalk him.

The filmmakers interview exactly two people who ever met Pynchon (both in the 1960's). There is an interview with a literary critic who reviewed the novel V. when it was first published. Finally, there is an interview with a guy who runs a Pynchon index on the web. These were the only worthwhile interviews in the film. All of the other people interviewed come across like nuts.

One interviewee tries to make the case that Pynchon and Lee Harvey Oswald might have known each other because. . . both were living in Mexico City at the same time (and how populated is Mexico City?). Someone else stakes out an address where Pynchon might be living and becomes convinced he found the man because. . . the guy got upset when the stalker snapped a picture of him without asking. Someone else claims that he might have seen Pynchon at a Thomas Pynchon lookalike contest because. . ."he was shifty and talking in a French accent that was obviously fake." Towards the end of the film, another interviewee was obsessed with footage of a man who might be Pynchon and was analyzing it like it was the Zapruder film. "He is wearing a red cap; what is he trying to say by that?" By the time the film ended, I perfectly understood why Pynchon was in hiding. Salman Rushdie only had religious extremists to worry about. The fans in this documentary are truly scary.

As a film, the directors do not have enough interesting material to justify feature length. They use a lot of stock footage to eat up time. There is annoying score by the band the Residents, which is not pleasing to listen to. Finally, viewers unfamiliar with Pynchon's work may wonder what all the fuss is about. The filmmakers quote the opening of Gravity's Rainbow twice, but that is the only quotation used from any of his books. There is almost no mention of what his books are about. This documentary will probably not make anyone new to the writer curious enough to give one of Pynchon's novels a try, which is a shame.

I have not read any book by Thomas Pynchon, but the reason of my interests is that I saw Paul Thomas Anderson's Conspiracy -Mystery-Comedy, Inherent Vice (2014) when it came out, and was blown away by it! How could he have made a film that accurately describes the sort of stoned whacky Conspiracy-Enlightenment feeling, that if there are witnesses, they see you as stupid or paranoid, and make it as a movie that kind of makes sense, or does it? Truly one of my favorite movies because I have lots of experiences of going nuts on drugs. As I had to quit it and have not touched it for years.

So I had to know about who wrote the script or of who it was based off. I learned about this weird hermit author, that somehow has been able to keep himself as anonymous and from the public life, his whole career. In this documentary, moviemakers from the UK, go over how there has been a trace of him, his lovers and friends interviews and those that are trying to find him.

The same as in 2014, happened yesterday in summer 2025. I came across an article about Paul Thomas Anderson's new movie , One Battle After Another (2025), that's due to be released in fall 2025, and learned it's supposed, in some ways, made from another book by Thomas Pynchon, and learned that another movie by him called The Master, has connections to the writer also. And that, at 88 yo, Thomas Pynchon is due to release his 9th novel in next October. Very interesting stuff!

So this documentary, that I watched on YouTube, is a great start if you want to go down this rabbit-hole.

Stunning experience to find, how little can be revealed in such a length of time - the oh so clever and appropriate-like point intended (to s h o w that nothing can be shown, yep) could as well have been made in half an hour - IF the choice of experts asked about Pynchon had been revealing at all: it must be an art in itself to find people belonging that much to the outskirts of the literary scene. Don't let yourselves be tricked by the topic - one does not have to admire this arty-farty-stuff, because little is less than an art-movie that has not enough to it.

Thomas Pynchon is a best - selling American author, who, very much unlike the vast majority his peers, has eschewed the lime light with almost fanatical determination for the past four decades. This very well made movie pieces together testimonies and evidence and investigates Pynchon's background and (speculative) motivations, not just for his persistent hiding, but especially for his writing. It left me with a lot of admiration for the person Thomas Pynchon, who is happy to have his books read and get on with his life, rather than cheapen himself on the media circuit. The sound track is aptly provided by "The Residents", an American underground band who for the past 30 years have only appeared masked on stage and whose members are unknown. Seems that Pynchon is in good company.