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Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles

Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles

62
Balasaur Score
Mixed

1999 · Movie · 1h 15m

The read

Critics rate it 16 points higher than audiences do. It runs a compact 1h 15m.

Synopsis

One of the most enigmatic artists of the 20th century, writer, composer and wanderer Paul Bowles (1910-1999) is profiled by a filmmaker who has been obsessed with his genius since age nineteen. Set against the dramatic landscape of North Africa, the mystery of Bowles (famed author of The Sheltering Sky) begins to unravel in Jennifer Baichwal's poetic and moving Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles. Rare, candid interviews with the reclusive Bowles--at home in Tangier, as well as in New York during an extraordinary final reunion with Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs--are intercut with conflicting views of his supporters and detractors. At the time in his mid-eighties, Bowles speaks with unprecedented candor about his work, his controversial private life and his relationships with Gertrude Stein, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, the Beats, and his wife and fellow author Jane Bowles.

Ratings

IMDb6.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes80%

Critics rate it 16 points higher than audiences do.

5 audience votes

Key crew

Cast

Themes

woman director