...a Journey Into the Mind of (P.)

[Peter Petto]

 From the Feb 18-24 Variety, this outfit is trying to sell this film that 
was mentioned my Otto and described by Thomas Eckhardt on this list last 
year. (Perhaps we'll get to see it stateside this year.)

>Media Luna Entertainment
>Hochstadenstrasse 1-3
>D-50674 Cologne, Germany
>(49-221) 1392222
>Fax: (49-221) 1392224
>
>Office: c/o Export Union
>
>Attending: Ida Martins, CEO.
>
>PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS
>
>"Anna's Summer," director, Jeanine Meerapfel; cast, Angela Molina, Herbert 
>Knaup, Dimitis Katalifos. A troubled widow moves back to her family's 
>island home and is faced with memories and ghosts from the past, as well 
>as the possibility of a new love. Drama.
>
>"The Journey to Kafiristan," producers/directors, Fosco & Donatello 
>Dubini; cast, Jeanette Hain, Nina Petri. An author and an ethnologist set 
>out in '39 on a road trip to Kabul, each in pursuit of her own project, 
>but on reaching their destination, WWII breaks out and their plans are 
>thwarted. Drama.
>
>"Thomas Pynchon - a Journey Into the Mind of (P.)," producers/directors, 
>Fosco & Donatello Dubini. Documentary on one of the most popular and 
>mysterious authors of modern literature. Nonfiction.
>
>"Innowhereland," director, Tayfun Pirselimoglu; cast, Zuhal Olcay, Michael 
>Mendl. A widow's journey to find her missing son leads her to meet a young 
>separatist fighter looking for his beloved mother. Drama.


>Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 23:38:37 +0000
>From: Thomas Eckhardt <thomas.eckhardt at uni-bonn.de>
>Subject: Re: pynchon movies
>
>Went to see "A Journey Into the Mind of P." yesterday in Cologne. I don't have
>the time to write a full review. Here are a few personal impressions:
>
>Pros: A spelling mistake that turned Pynchon's "marital status" into "his
>"martial status"; archive footage showing exploding V2s, von Braun, John F.
>Kennedy, Jack Ruby killing Lee Harvey Oswald; archive footage from a CIA 
>or FBI
>experiment supposedly showing a cat under the influence of LSD (definitely not
>a pretty sight, whatever the substance was); the soundtrack (I had never
>listened to the Resident's "Third Reich'n'Roll" before); interviews with 
>George
>Plimpton and Irvin Corey; interviews with the Great Quail (whose real family
>name seems to have been misspelled as well, but whom it was great to see in
>person) and Tim Ware; James Bone's story about he photographed Pynchon (he
>essentially tells us, without noticing himself, that he got what he deserved
>when P told him "Get your fucking hands of me!").
>
>Neutral: An interview with Chrissie Wexler (sp?), former girl friend of 
>Pynchon
>and wife to Jules Siegel. Interesting to learn that P lived in Manhattan 
>Beach,
>which I have visited for the first time a few weeks ago, while writing GR.
>
>Cons: An interview with Jules Siegel who came across quite sympathetic 
>until he
>started developing strange theories; most of the statements of Richard 
>Lane (is
>that the man who created the "Pynchon Files"?) who was getting all paranoid
>about P's life, self-consciously so, but nevertheless; the final discussion
>about which of the persons filmed by CNN was P; too much left out, the
>Farina-Baez-connection, for example, Wanda Tinasky; generally the focus on the
>man's life, not his books.
>
>All in all, I found some bits quite interesting but wasn't really enjoying
>myself. Too much cult of personality, not nearly enough focus on the texts and
>the things they deal with. For my taste.
>
>Thomas