BOOKWARS
A gritty, low-fi documentary about Manhattan's street
booksellers which abounds in fascinating detail. The
director and narrator, Jason Rosette, shows how bookselling
is the kissing cousin of another urban art form: drug
dealing. Both require a knowledge of profitable corner
locations, an experienced eye for for potential addicts,
and a steady supply of mood-altering substances. In the
case of books, you want to be holding works by Carlos
Casteneda and Kurt Vonnegut, perennial best sellers on the
street. It's a hardscrabble existence: most street
booksellers do not vend stolen books; they rely on church
fairs, garbage-picking, and the state of New Jersey-"land
of the two dollar book."
Unlike most war pics, the underdogs don't win in the end:
Mayor Giuliani's quality-of-life campaign dispersend much
of the community captured here.
Michael Agger