The Practice of the Wild
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117944036/
(Documentary)
By Ronnie Scheib
Nov. 11, 2010
A San Simeon, Whole Earth Films production. Produced by Will Hearst,
Jim Harrison. Directed by John J. Healy.
With: Gary Snyder, Jim Harrison, Michael McClure, Jack Shoemaker,
Scott Slovic, Joanne Kyger.
Labor-of-love docu "The Practice of the Wild" traces the career of
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gary Snyder through major literary and
social movements of the 20th and 21st centuries, from the Beats (he
was the real-life Japhy Ryder in Kerouac's "Dharma Bums"), through
Zen and the counterculture, to his seminal role in the literature of
"deep ecology." Unfortunately, despite Snyder's quietly commanding
presence, the docu's setup, a series of staged, would-be Socratic
dialogues, feels forced and artificial -- everything Snyder's poetry
is not. Bowing Nov. 12 at Gotham's Quad Cinema, "Wild" comes off pretty tame.
Most of helmer John J. Healy's 53-minute film consists of Snyder and
producer/novelist/fellow poet Jim Harrison communing outdoors,
Snyder's bearded elegance contrasting with Harrison's plug-ugly
earthiness. Shooting the intellectual breeze with forced casualness,
the nature-loving versifiers vainly attempt to make their
pre-arranged Q&A sessions seem natural. Sometimes the spare beauty
and authenticity of Snyder's poems, recited by the bard himself (and
illustrated with shots of mountain mists, cloud-stacked skies and
Pacific flora and fauna), manage to overcome the docu's otherwise
strained attempt at spontaneity, as do talking-head interviews with
Beat poet Michael McClure or publisher Jack Shoemaker.
Camera (color, HD), Alison Kelly; editor, Robin Lee. Reviewed at Quad
Cinema, New York, Nov. 2, 2010. Running time: 53 MIN.
.
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