A Bookshelf on Top of the Sky: 12 Stories About John Zorn (2002)

Director:

Claudia Heuermann

Genre:

Documentary

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Joey Baron	...	Himself
Greg Cohen	...	Himself
Dave Douglas	...	Himself
Fred Frith	...	Himself
Claudia Heuermann	...	Herself
Ikue Mori	...	Herself
Mike Patton	...	Himself
Marc Ribot	...	Himself
John Zorn	...	Himself

Runtime:

Canada:82 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Quotes:

[first lines]
Claudia Heuermann: [narrating] I remember the day very clearly, although it was more than a decade ago. I had just started art school in a small, faraway town, and when I wasn't learning to use a paintbrush, my favorite thing to do was party on the street and go head-banging in a local music club. That day my teachers had told me to stop being a child, while my punk friends were pressuring me to quit with the intellectual art bullshit. What the hell was I supposed to do? I didn't have a clue, and I wasn't getting any closer to an answer when the phone rang.
[phone rings]
Claudia Heuermann: Oh, no. Shit!... Hello?
Voice on the Phone: Hey, how are you?
Claudia Heuermann: Oh, fine, you?
Voice on the Phone: Listen, I've got this new record. Amazing music. Can you come over? You really got to hear it.
Claudia Heuermann: Now? Why not?
Claudia Heuermann: [narrating] On the strangely fascinating and violent-looking cover I saw the title, "Torture Garden." The name of the band was Naked City, lead by someone named John Zorn. I asked who John Zorn was, not yet knowing that this record would change my life forever.

Torture garden

As a huge fan of John Zorn's music, I was excited to see this documentary; John Zorn is known as being somewhat shrouded in mystery, which clashes with his prolific musical output. This duality is perhaps what drives his music; from soft classical music to insane jazz freakouts and almost everything in between, Zorn holds nothing back in his mixing palette for making music that is wonderfully unique and beautiful (even in its ugliest moments).

However, just because Zorn doesn't hold back on his music, that doesn't mean the director of this documentary shouldn't show some reserve every now and then. Obviously, the director is a big fan of Zorn and this admiration shows through in nearly every scene... however, the focus of the film eventually becomes the director herself! This film isn't so much about Zorn's life or his working methods but more about the woman trying to get an interview with Zorn and failing to do so, so she mixes herself discussing topics with old footage of Zorn. She also uses artsy-fartsy editing techniques that don't help the film move along at all, and at one point she actually CRIES on camera. Really, half-way through the film, you start to forget it's even a Zorn biopic! While all this sounds very negative, the footage of Zorn IS awesome. Obviously it's not as exciting now in the age of youtube when you can view Zorn-related clips for hours on end, maybe even for days! So, I've rated this rather highly just from all the great footage of Zorn working -- as far as the documentary itself, it doesn't shed any new light into the man himself, and the documentary has almost no flow to it whatsoever. Just a very poor -- but lovingly-made -- documentary that's worth a watch for fans only... but you definitely won't walk away satisfied.