Book description
Jesse didn't want to go to school anymore. After much deliberation,
his father offers him an unconventional deal: he can drop out, sleep
all day, not work, not pay rent, but on one condition - that he
watches three films a week, of his father's choosing.
What follows is an unusual journey as week by week, side by side,
they watch the world's best (and occasionally worst) films - from
True Romance to Chunking Express, A Hard Day's
Night to Rosemary's Baby, and La Dolce Vita to
Giant. The films get them talking: about girls, music,
heartbreak, work, drugs, money, friendship - but they also open doors
to a young man's interior life at a time when a parent is normally
shut out. Gradually the father's initial worries are set aside as he
watches his son morph from chaotic teenager to self-assured adult -
who even starts to get up before noon. As the film club moves towards
its poignant and inevitable conclusion, the young man makes a decision
which surprises even his father...
The Film Club is a book that goes straight to the heart.
Honest, unsparing, and emotive, it follows one man's attempt to chart
a course for his beloved son's rocky passage into adulthood.
David Gilmour is an award-winning and highly respected film critic -
both in print and on television - and a bestselling novelist. This is
his first literary memoir. He lives in Canada.
