The Booksellers (2020)

By: Mike Ward on Sunday, April 19

NR Running Time: 99 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

A documentary that speaks to the collector in all of us.
Lovingly shot and put together, you can almost smell the books, feel the dust, and earn a sense of wonder along with the robust ensemble of booksellers featured in the movie.
The Booksellers is a charming documentary, that will appeal to most book lovers everywhere.

NO

If you only have a passing interest in books or collecting or archiving art, The Booksellers may be somewhat lost on you.
Perhaps the “talking head” and formulaic approach to the documentary will appeal to an older demographic, but the movie can tend to run dry and lack some eccentricity that matches its subjects.
Those with a sensitivity to people who rent apartments to hold a book collection or line every usable inch of their living space with books, may want to look elsewhere.

OUR REVIEW

A movie that could easily be made about record collectors, gallerists, or a collector of any kind, The Booksellers is a whimsical and charming dive into the past and present of the New York City book scene. By providing something of a regional history lesson on booksellers in the Big Apple, to peeling back the layers on the collector’s mindset, to a larger look at how we consume our media and entertainment, writer/director D.W. Young’s new documentary is quite insightful, even if you are not a book reader or consumer.

An interest in books, or an affinity for the vibe and atmosphere of a bookstore, only enhances one’s experience with the film. Yet, Young’s film is as curious as a collector - finding facts, unique personalities, and a pervasive subculture where books still have a place in the world - beyond the Kindle or whatever latest e-Book reader pops up on the internet.

That last point proves refreshing on a certain level, as we see the world becoming more immediate, fast-paced, and digitized for easier and faster consumption. In some ways, it is hard to envision “treasure hunting” for books anymore. Holing up in a dusty, antiquarian bookstore feels more and more like an impossibility, without a cafe or barista on site nowadays, or some mixing of experiences to justify the cost of store owners affording steep rent and carrying lots of inventory.

While a beloved bookstore may seem to still be within driving distance for a lot of people, the antiquarian book community (the antithesis of the Barnes & Noble aesthetic) is a terrific topic to explore for a documentary.

The Booksellers introduces us to a diverse range of individuals who have devoted their lives to the gathering of literary works. Among them: A sisterly trio, who inherited their father’s shop in Manhattan. Though they grew up in and around books in their formative years, they never envisioned they would own and operate the family’s bookstore. And yet, here they are. They tell Young they keep things running because, well, they just like being there.

History lessons are cleverly added in. We learn that nearly 50 separate bookstores lined the famous “Book Row” in Manhattan in the 1920s. We learn about Leona Rostenberg and Madeline Stern, two famed collectors and dealers who once stated, “If everyman is a potential discoverer, then everyman is also a potential detective.”

The human-interest elements of The Booksellers are where the film really finds a rich distinction. And yet, as pleasant and interesting as Young’s film is, those lacking interest in books may fall away the longer the film goes on. If you lack a collector’s mindset on anything in your life, the individual who admits to obsessively hunting for a book, buying it, and then never opening it and just moving on to the next item they want, may make you scratch your head.

The Booksellers acknowledges a quirkiness to all of this, but again, that’s part of the charm. Young never judges his subjects and the film seems generally as curious about its interviewees as it is about the world they inhabit.

The life’s devotion to bound books and printed words. The collecting of works made by others. The lengths one will go to find the one item they desperately need to have. Again, people love records, movies, art, salt-and-pepper shakers, model cars, baseball cards, sports memorabilia, coins, stamps, and so many other things. The Booksellers may not fully get into the hunt with its subjects, but it admires the devotion, the commitment, and the journey they all take in a most meaningful and respectful way.

CAST & CREW

Starring: Fran Lebowitz, Susan Orlean, Gay Talese, Parker Posey, David Bergman, Rebecca Romney, Justin Croft, William Reese, Naomi Hample, Jess Kuronen, Michael Zinman, Henry Wessells, Judith Lowry, Caroline Schimmel, Adam Weinberger, Cara Schlesinger, Glenn Horowitz.

Director: D.W. Young
Release Date: March 6, 2020
Greenwich Entertainment

A documentary that speaks to the collector in all of us.

Lovingly shot and put together, you can almost smell the books, feel the dust, and earn a sense of wonder along with the robust ensemble of booksellers featured in the movie.

The Booksellers is a charming documentary, that will appeal to most book lovers everywhere.

If you only have a passing interest in books or collecting or archiving art, The Booksellers may be somewhat lost on you.

Perhaps the “talking head” and formulaic approach to the documentary will appeal to an older demographic, but the movie can tend to run dry and lack some eccentricity that matches its subjects.

Those with a sensitivity to people who rent apartments to hold a book collection or line every usable inch of their living space with books, may want to look elsewhere.