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How Frederick Wiseman Shot The Great American Novel

JL;DR SUMMARY Since the late 1960s, Frederick Wiseman has delivered intimate and encyclopedic portrayals of American life through his documentary films. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

StorytellingJewish ExperienceDocumentaryLanguageAmerican LifeHumorCinemaFrederick WisemanEx LibrisFilm Editing

Places mentioned

New York, United States
"I met him at Film Forum, where his newest film, Ex Libris The New York Public Library, will be playing from September 13 to September 26."
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
"Wiseman grew up in Boston in the 1930s, which he describes as a time of blatant anti-Semitism."
Massachusetts, United States
"Recently, Wiseman has found inspiration for his knotty studies of human behavior in a place that might have seemed unlikely upon the release of Titicut Follies, his harsh look of the brutality inside Massachusettss Bridgewater Hospital for the Criminally Insane, which was banned until 1991 following a lawsuit by the state government of Massachusetts."
California, United States
"Alongside the last two films he has made in the United States, At Berkeley (2013) and In Jackson Heights (2015), Ex Libris forms a triptych on American liberalism."
Bridgewater, Massachusetts, United States
"Recently, Wiseman has found inspiration for his knotty studies of human behavior in a place that might have seemed unlikely upon the release of Titicut Follies, his harsh look of the brutality inside Massachusettss Bridgewater Hospital for the Criminally Insane, which was banned until 1991 following a lawsuit by the state government of Massachusetts."
United Kingdom
"call it the Fred Wiseman Cinematic Universe (which has now expanded into France and Great Britain as well)."
France
"call it the Fred Wiseman Cinematic Universe (which has now expanded into France and Great Britain as well)."

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Cairo Item ID 75503
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Retrieved 2026-02-17 05:31:41 UTC
Curated 2026-02-17 08:31:26 UTC