My First Movie
Twenty Celebrated Directors Talk About Their First Film

Edited by Stephen Lowenstein
Pantheon, $27.50
ISBN 0375420819

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Stephen Lowenstein is a British documentary and short-feature director. In My First Movie, he gathers 20 of his substantial interviews with directors, in which they discuss the whys and wherefores of their first films. In over 450 pages of thoughtful conversation, they think aloud about the creative ambitions of directors in the collaborative world of filmmaking.

Lowenstein has picked quite a list of filmmakers -- Pedro Almodovar, Kevin Smith, Stephen Frears, Mira Nair, Neil Jordan, Mike Figgis, Oliver Stone and Ken Loach, to name a few -- and the anecdotes are wonderful. For example, Allison Anders, director of the quietly lyrical Gas Food Lodging, talks about going to a drive-in at the age of three. "I thought this man was talking to us from the sky. I didn't realize there was a screen there, that this was being projected. So I actually thought this must be the voice of God. I had no idea why everyone was being so casual." With people such as Oliver Stone and the Coen brothers, it isn't difficult to find outrageous stories.

As they look back on early accomplishments, artists of any kind are subject to the same nostalgia as the rest of us, but they are used to viewing their own accomplishments critically. Discussing Bleak Moments, Mike Leigh describes the creative process that has kept him producing unique, deeply humane movies such as Life Is Sweet and Career Girls -- not to mention his recent masterpiece, Topsy-Turvy, about Gilbert and Sullivan and the making of The Mikado. A lovingly recreated tribute to the creative process, the latter movie reflects the theories of filmmaking Leigh discusses in this excellent interview.

It's always interesting -- well, okay, usually interesting -- to eavesdrop on the thoughts of creative individuals. Even those of us who regard Ang Lee's first film, Pushing Hands, as a rather tiring exercise with no hint of his future triumphs can't resist that director's always thoughtful and charming self-analysis. Even if you agree with Elaine on Seinfeld that The English Patient was painfully hokey, it's still interesting to hear Anthony Minghella talk about the process of creating his quirky first work, the tragicomic ghost story Truly, Madly, Deeply.

The fun thing about books of this sort is that you don't have to be in love with every work discussed to enjoy the ramble through the creative process. Page after page, My First Movie provides insightful, frequently amusing takes on the one truly original art form of the 20th century -- pictures that move.

Michael Sims is the author of Darwin's Orchestra (Henry Holt).