Review of Ex Libris: The New York Public Library (2017) by Keith E — 19 Apr 2018
In a word: torturous. In several words: an exercise in interminable arbitrariness. It's not the 3.5 hours - I prepared to enjoy and in-depth examination of the NYPL, after all - rather, it's the categorically uninformative, maddeningly unattributed nature of it.
What's the point of holding the camera overlong on innumerable lectures from authors and musicians - don't expect to be told who they are, by the way - and interspersing them with pointless and, again, utterly arbitrary shots of street corners, a handicapped or homeless person, somebody taking a picture of something, another person asleep in his chair, a traffic light.
.? I mean, huh? Besides the agonzingly, bafflingly out of context scenes of the library staff meetings, mostly the higher level administrators yammering on about this or that socio-economic-political red tape nonsense that everyone copes with at their own job.
I don't know, if the director thought he somehow demonstrated the depth and breadth of the library's influence or the part it plays in the life of the city, well, sort of. It seems to me he just said "roll tape" and walked away.
A frustrating snore.
This review of Ex Libris: The New York Public Library (2017) was written by Keith E on 19 April 2018.
Ex Libris: The New York Public Library has generally received positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
