Documentary Review The Stone Reader

The Stone Reader (2003) 

Directed by Mark Moskowitz 

Written by Documentary 

Staring Mark Moskowitz 

The name Dow Mossman may not stir the average man on the street. Other than the unusual nature of the name Dow, the name has little cache.

That is, except for a one man fan club named Mark Moskowitz who knows everything there is to know about Dow Mossman. Why? Because in 1972 a then 18 year old Moskowitsz read a New York Times review of a book called The Stones of Summer. The review caused Moskowitz to seek out this book that was described as the novel of its generation by Times reviewer John Seelye. Thus began a series of events that some thirty years later became a documentary called The Stone Reader, a paean to the art and craft of reading and appreciating a great book.

As a 17-year-old, Mark Moskowitz got very sick. His weeks of bed rest left him with little else to do but read. It was during this time that he discovered a number of books including The Stones of Summer by Dow Mossman. Unfortunately for Mark, Stones was a little too dense. The pack rat in Mark however caused him to hold onto the book and nearly thirty years later he picked it up again. What he found was a transforming literary experience, a book that spoke to him in a way that few books ever had.

Assuming that since the book had been written so long ago that the author must have a number of books available, Mark began to scour the internet for the works of Dow Mossman. To his surprise, however, there were no other books. There was in fact no information about Dow Mossman at all, as if he had disappeared completely.

What began as a curiosity quickly grew into a passion. Why had such a brilliant writer simply stopped after one incredible piece of work? Mark, now in his late thirties and working as a director of political commercials, decided that he would put his behind the camera skills to new use in the medium of documentary filmmaking, find Dow Mossman and discover why he had stopped writing.

That is the story of The Stone Reader. Without giving too much away as to what Mark Moskowitz discovered in his work and whether he ever found Dow Mossman, you'll have to see that for yourself. This is a truly magnificent documentary. The film has traditional documentary elements like talking head interviews and narration but what is unique is the way that Mark Moskowitz makes the search for Dow Mossman more about himself than Dow or his book. Moskowitz has an aggressive almost abrasive personality and yet as the documentary moves along he wins you over with his passion.

Moskowitz narrates the film himself as if he were reading a book on tape and it's a really great book. The images on the screen often have nothing to do with the narration and yet it feels right. It's as if you were in his head as he reminisces about books and his journey with Dow. One particularly striking sequence, Moskowitz discusses another author whose work output was limited to one brilliant novel, Joseph Heller, author of Catch 22.

Moskowitz goes on for something like 15 minutes discussing military novels that he discovered as a kid and happening upon Catch 22. Heller died just as the documentary was being made and that fact likely inspired this bit of stream of consciousness. As this narration goes, the images on the screen are of Moskowitz's son at an amusement park riding the Ferris wheel, winning toys and eating cotton candy. The camera is Mark's perspective watching his son and it's as if the narration is happening in his head.

There are a number of shorter sequences of the same kind and they all have a quality that draws the audience closer to the subject. Combined with interviews that piece together the clues of Dow Mossman's disappearance, it’s like a Sherlock Holmes novel but with a lighter tone. Moskowitz tips his hand a couple of times that finding Dow might be easier than he lets on and almost admits a couple times that he is dragging things out, but it's such a terrific journey that I didn't mind.