Windmill Movie, The

Windmill Movie, The

What if someone wrote your autobiography? Would it be true? What if someone took the images of your life and made a film?

Culling from a 200-hour trove of footage, filmmaker Alexander Olch

has cleverly invented an autobiography-by-proxy of his mentor, legendary documentary and experimental filmmaker Richard P. Rogers. The result is a deeply imaginative essay film constructed of sun-dappled Hamptons lawn parties, plane rides to exotic locales, stunningly raw moments with Rogers' domineering mink-coated mother, and new footage with Rogers' childhood friend, actor Wallace Shawn.

Harvard-educated, and born to privilege in NYC, Rogers was a tortured soul torn between the narrow patrician loyalties of his upbringing and a desire for artistic achievement on his own, unmitigated terms. Though Rogers did complete many remarkable works in his career, his untimely death at age 57 put an end to his magnum opus: an autobiography project he had worked on for 25 years. The tragic and profound story of a gifted artist, The Windmill Movie is ultimately a mind-bending cinematic amalgam that beautifully explores the chasm between documentary and fiction.