A Bookshelf on Top of the Sky: 12 Stories About John Zorn (2002) Reviews

• Zorn is great, but this film isn't anything a good documentary should be... and that makes for a painful viewing experience.

  tellusallaboutit2008-05-06

  Imho, this is an interesting film for the wrong reasons. Its a sophomoric, self-centered directors view of an interesting, influential, and unique artist. On the upside, we get some cool behind-the-scenes footage of zorn that gives us insight into his methods of composition, as well as some live footage, but in between we get to have a laugh at the director as she films herself making her own film... Percentage-wise, the film may in fact be more about the director than it is about zorn - to the point where she plays answering machine messages that zorn left with her and natters on about their friendship... I guess this is an effort to prove to the audience that zorn was as interested in her life and artistic process as she was in his. I can't emphasize how strange it is to watch a documentary about one person and an autobiography about the director at the same time... Its surreal, and it isn't anything a good documentary should be, and that makes for a painful viewing experience.

• Torture garden

  polysicsarebest2008-10-22

  As a huge fan of John Zorn's music, I was excited to see this documentary; John Zorn is known as being somewhat shrouded in mystery, which clashes with his prolific musical output. This duality is perhaps what drives his music; from soft classical music to insane jazz freakouts and almost everything in between, Zorn holds nothing back in his mixing palette for making music that is wonderfully unique and beautiful (even in its ugliest moments). However, just because Zorn doesn't hold back on his music, that doesn't mean the director of this documentary shouldn't show some reserve every now and then. Obviously, the director is a big fan of Zorn and this admiration shows through in nearly every scene... however, the focus of the film eventually becomes the director herself! This film isn't so much about Zorn's life or his working methods but more about the woman trying to get an interview with Zorn and failing to do so, so she mixes herself discussing topics with old footage of Zorn. She also uses artsy-fartsy editing techniques that don't help the film move along at all, and at one point she actually CRIES on camera. Really, half-way through the film, you start to forget it's even a Zorn biopic! While all this sounds very negative, the footage of Zorn IS awesome. Obviously it's not as exciting now in the age of youtube when you can view Zorn-related clips for hours on end, maybe even for days! So, I've rated this rather highly just from all the great footage of Zorn working -- as far as the documentary itself, it doesn't shed any new light into the man himself, and the documentary has almost no flow to it whatsoever. Just a very poor -- but lovingly-made -- documentary that's worth a watch for fans only... but you definitely won't walk away satisfied.