06-02-2024, 08:02 AM
City of Blows by Tim Blake Nelson
I guess you have to write a book if you have done any time in Hollywood. Tim Blake Nelson is probably most famous for being one of the triumvirate in "O, Brother Where art thou?" He is also a writer and director. But rather than writing a memoir of all his Hollywood anecdotes, he writes this fictional account of what it mean to make a motion picture mostly from the viewpoint of the above the line talent. The book concerns itself with producers, directors and actors with occasional forays into the other departments, but not far.
The book starts early with the childhoods of the three main protagonists and what made them go to Hollywood. There is Jacob the producer who has been at it a long time. There is Brad another producer just getting started. And David the actor and director. None of them have redeeming qualities. Some are bit more honorable than the others but only in small bursts. I get the feeling that Nelson had some subjects in Hollywood he wanted to talk about and made up fictional situations with his characters to do so.
There is also a big subplot about the me too movement in the book. The Weinstein brothers appear under different names. It is one of the big subsections of the book on how these producers and agents prey on the new talent.
I thought the book was just fair overall. It only shows the ugly side of the business but never goes in to why people put up with all that crap to do what they do.
I guess you have to write a book if you have done any time in Hollywood. Tim Blake Nelson is probably most famous for being one of the triumvirate in "O, Brother Where art thou?" He is also a writer and director. But rather than writing a memoir of all his Hollywood anecdotes, he writes this fictional account of what it mean to make a motion picture mostly from the viewpoint of the above the line talent. The book concerns itself with producers, directors and actors with occasional forays into the other departments, but not far.
The book starts early with the childhoods of the three main protagonists and what made them go to Hollywood. There is Jacob the producer who has been at it a long time. There is Brad another producer just getting started. And David the actor and director. None of them have redeeming qualities. Some are bit more honorable than the others but only in small bursts. I get the feeling that Nelson had some subjects in Hollywood he wanted to talk about and made up fictional situations with his characters to do so.
There is also a big subplot about the me too movement in the book. The Weinstein brothers appear under different names. It is one of the big subsections of the book on how these producers and agents prey on the new talent.
I thought the book was just fair overall. It only shows the ugly side of the business but never goes in to why people put up with all that crap to do what they do.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm