Thomas Pynchon: A Journey Into the Mind of P.

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.

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.

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.