Bukowski: Born into This (2003)
"You have my soul and I have your
money." - Bukowski to an audience at one of his readings
in "Bukowski: Born into This."
Charles Bukowski is probably one
of the most interesting figures of American literature
in the late 20th century. In fact, he is probably
THE most interesting figure.
"Born into This" is, without a doubt,
the most in-depth and comprehensive account of his
life that you will ever find. One can only hope this
version, which runs two hours plus, is released to
the general public. Even though my ass got sore sitting
through the film at a small, underground venue in
Austin, I never once lost interest in the story.
Everything a Bukowski fan and a
Bukowski neophyte could want is here. First and foremost,
the film makes Bukowski's words come to live. There
is a ton of archive footage here and much of it is
Bukowski reading his own work. Others read his work
as well and we are allowed to hear his words beautifully
and as intended. But even more awesome is how director
John Dullagham puts text on the screen to accentuate
the beauty and the starkness of the work. Bukowski
is remembered mostly as a man who got right to the
point. The allure of his work was its brutal honesty,
its lack of pretense. The most awesome example of
this idea here is a reading of one of Bukowski's greatest
short poems, "The Swan." It is an awesome moment,
a truly beautiful cinematic moment because it is an
aural moment.
I could get into Bukowski's story
here, but why should I? Either you already know him
and love him or you want to know more about him. Either
way, this film is for you. There is a plethora of
good stuff here. Interviews with friends and co- workers,
tons of archive interviews with Bukowski himself from
all throughout his latter career. There are interviews
with the man here from the 60's, 70's and 80's. (He
died in 1994).
Bukowski's childhood, his relationships
with women, his job at the post office, and his writing,
all which became themes and subjects of his work,
are covered intensely here. Dullagham leaves virtually
no stone unturned.
As a Kurt Vonnegut fan, I found
Bukowski to be much like a Kilgore Trout character.
Although he did not write science fiction, much of
his life seems to be emulated by Trout. Bukowski struggled
in obscurity for ages. His work was published in tons
of little magazines in his early days (probably a
few skin magazines too) and he only became famous
when a wealthy man brought him to prominence and began
to publish his work. As Bukowski got older, he realized
fame and his life evolved accordingly, particularly
with women becoming more involved.
Bukowski's life IS a huge part of
his work. This documentary is a wonderful gathering
of that life for his fans. For others, like myself,
who are just learning about him and becoming curious,
the film is a gorgeous primer. After seeing it, all
that seems left to do is to start reading the work.
I'll be looking for "Post Office" next time I go to
the bookstore.
Notes:
Also featuring interviews with film
director Taylor Hackford, Bono (of U2), Harry Dean
Stanton, and Sean Penn. Film director Barbet Schroeder,
who lensed some of Bukowski's stories as "Barfly,"
is also shown and interview footage he shot of Bukowski
is used.
Other documentaries about Bukowski
have been made and several of his stories have been
made into films, albeit none as prominently as "Barfly,"
which Bukowski disavows in this film.
The film played at Sundance and
has begun a small arthouse run in the U.S.
Viewed
at AFF 2003.
