Product Details

• Actors: Richard Lane
• Directors: Fosco Dubini
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Kultur
• DVD Release Date: November 18, 2008
• Run Time: 89 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001FZQOPY
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #133,483 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Thomas Pynchon is one of the most popular authors of modern literature and without doubt, one of its most mysterious representatives. For 30 years Pynchon has been out of public sight, giving no interviews and not allowing any photographs of himself. His whereabouts are unknown and only visible through his publications. This film makes a journey to the places of Pynchon's biography, picks up motives and tracks from his novels and reveals some of the literally universe and world of ideas of [p.].

Directors / ScreenpIay / Editors / Producers: Fosco Dubini / Donatello Dubini

With participation of:

[p.] s biographer: Richard Lane / webmaster
[p.] s discoverer: George Plimpton / critic
[p.] s schoolmate: Jules Siegel / writer
[p.] s affair: Chrissie Wexler / painter
[p.] s double: Irvin Corey / comedian
[p.] s «headhunter»: James Bone / journalist

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not your typical literary profile, December 1, 2008

By 

Volunteer of America (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Thomas Pynchon - A Journey Into the Mind of [p] (DVD)

Given Pynchon's recurring themes of paranoia, drug use, and involved, labyrinthine plots, coupled with the almost complete lack of information about the man himself, I thought this was an interesting approach to the writer. It's a highly impressionistic pastiche of archival footage, interviews, speculation, eerie versions of sixties music ("In-a-Gadda-da-Vida", "Land of 1000 Dances", "Gloria") and surrealism; which actually doesn't do a bad job of evoking the feel of Pynchon's writings. Perhaps better than a bunch of talking heads from academia.

There's a William Burroughs, cut-and-paste feel to the filmmaker's approach, but I don't think this is a bad thing. Though it will appeal more to "sixties survivors" than to those seeking a more measured, academic discussion. However, the latter model would be hard put to find much to include in a film, given Pynchon's remoteness and secrecy.

Was amused to learn of his friendship with Richard Farina, "Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me" being an old favorite of mine.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Atmosphere over Analysis, December 2, 2008

By 

Progressive (Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thomas Pynchon - A Journey Into the Mind of [p] (DVD)

I agree with Volunteer; this film is more about creating an atmosphere and a mood that evokes Pynchon's writing, rather than a literary, literal analysis. The music - which I really enjoyed - and the sinister, paranoid snips of puzzling events like the Kennedy assassination do a good job of evoking the feel of an alien, threatening power in the world. And yes, there's definitely the influence of Burroughs; the filmmakers' approach somewhat resembles David Cronenberg's film rendering of Burroughs' Naked Lunch, where he mixes the novel with biographical scenes.

I can see that this is not for all Pynchon admirers, but if you're psychedelically inclined, you'll find it quite engrossing.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Invisible Man, the Sixties, and Everything, November 17, 2008

By 

Henry Musikar "Cyberia" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Thomas Pynchon - A Journey Into the Mind of [p] (DVD)

If you've read everything that Pynchon's written, you gotta see this. If you remember the sixties, or wonder about the paranoia and the drugs, you gotta see it. From the atom bomb to LSD and an interview with one of Pynchon's old lovers, this documentary is a whole lot better than the sum of it's parts.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001FZQOPY?ie=UTF8&tag=tdcoccamsaxe-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B001FZQOPY