Ex Libris: The New York Public Library, the 41st documentary feature by Frederick Wiseman, bears a close resemblance to its subject. It’s huge (197 minutes) and incredibly varied, with something new and interesting popping up every time you turn the corner. And as with a public library, the sheer magnitude of the movie can make you a little drowsy. Wiseman is a master editor, capable of sustaining a documentary for two, three, or even four hours, but compared, for instance, to his 1997 masterpiece Public Housing, which also ran about 200 minutes, the new film can feel static and self-indulgent, the work of an octogenarian (born in 1930) who thinks he’s earned the right to relax and enjoy himself. Fortunately you can catch 40 winks in a darkened theater and no one will be any the wiser; if you sleep in the library, they’ll throw you out.
In a sense, the authors sitting for live Q&As at the central library are stand-ins for their books, and Wiseman lets their talks play out for minutes at a time. Ted Merwin, author of the scholarly volume Pastrami on Rye, holds forth on the importance of the Jewish deli in American culture, and poet Yusef Komunyakaa explains how listening to the blues taught him the art of insinuation. Elvis Costello, discussing his memoir, introduces a video clip of his father, a British bandleader of the 1950s and ’60s, and Patti Smith, talking about her memoir, cites the influence of Jean Genet’s The Thief’s Journal, which she praises as “completely true and simultaneously completely false.” To break up the visual monotony of the talks, Wiseman will present a string of close-ups showing captivated audience members, but the sessions can get a little stifling; on the rare occasions when Wiseman ventures out onto the streets surrounding the building, I wanted to gasp for air.
Directed by Frederick Wiseman
