"Night Film" by Marisha Pessl - Book Review

I decided to review "Night Film" - a new novel from Marisha Pessl - because the primary subject is a film director, and the themes/subplots involve moviemaking, hero worship, creative genius, and artistic eccentricity.  "Night Film" is a fascinating page-turner that I recommend to all aspiring filmmakers.  For everyone else, it's a solid mystery-thriller with several creepy scenes and a few preposterous plot twists.

"Night Film" is narrated by investigative-reporter Scott McGrath, a divorced 43 year-old living in New York City.  He recently suffered a career disgracement when his attempt to uncover a scandalous story on the reclusive film director Stanislas Cordova proved erroneous.  When Cordova's 24 year old daughter Ashley dies in an apparent suicide, McGrath is drawn back into Cordova's world, determined to find out the truth about this eccentric family of artists.

As McGrath digs deeper into Ashley's life, he essentially becomes a character in one of Cordova's horror movies.  He uncovers supernatural curses, people and clues disappear without explanation, and a whole cast of bizarre supporting players help/obstruct the case.  One of the more perplexing plot points is McGrath's decision to take on two young assistants, loosely connected to the late Ashley.  Together, the three form an unlikely (and implausible) band of detectives, chasing Ashley's shadow through New York City's darkest corners - and into the disturbing universe of Stanislas Cordova.

Cordova maintains a veil of secrecy to protect his creative genius.  When a close associate is asked what Cordova needs in order to thrive she replies, "Darkness."  She elaborates further:  "I know it's hard to fathom today, but a true artists needs darkness in order to create.  It gives him power.  His invisibility."  McGrath's question, however, is whether Cordova has taken that darkness too far.  And has his daughter paid the ultimate price?

Author Marisha Pessl

One of "Night Film's" biggest strengths is the authenticity of the central character of Cordova.  A filmmaker known for his terrifying horror films, Cordova refuses to be photographed and has not granted an interview in over 30 years.  His movies have a rabid cult following, and he now lives in semi-retirement at an isolated compound in upstate New York.  Cordova is an amalgamation of Stanley Kubrick, Terrence Malick, Francis Ford Coppola, Roger Corman, Michael Cimino, and Alejandro Jodorowsky among others.  The best part is that Cordova exists alongside them, in a parallel universe to ours.  When McGrath's young assistant says that Cordova grew up in New York playing chess in Washington Square, she is quickly corrected by an expert:  "That was Kubrick. . .Get your geniuses straight."  When McGrath feels that Cordova has crossed a line, he states that Cordova should be "terminated with extreme prejudice" in a direct reference to "Apocalypse Now."  At times, the story is very "Heart of Darkness"-esque, with the characters literally travelling up a river to look for the cult (movie) leader.

The book is full of movie and pop culture references, some not so direct.  Stylistically, it resembles "The Girl with the Dragoon Tattoo" as they both feature a disgraced journalist who take on their darkest case with the help of a quirky young female assistant.  At other times I thought of "Beautiful Ruins" by Jess Walter as it also deals with a parallel Hollywood intermingling real and fictitious people.

The novel is also full of fake news stories, reproduced to look like the real thing.  Much work and detail have gone into these pages to help make Cordova's world seem like an extension of our own.  These include interviews from Rolling Stone, and articles from Time, Vanity Fair, and the New York Times.  While this is definitely an unnecessary 21st Century marketing gimmick, I did enjoy reading these, as I have read so many authentic ones on the real directors I personally admire.  I guess it proves the role we all play in building up hype and worshipping false idols.

Fake NY Times Obituary

"Night Film" ultimately succeeds because it sticks to the template of a couple classics:  "Rebecca" and "Rashomon."  The former because the characters (and ultimately the reader) become obsessed with a character that never appears.  We learn every nuance of Ashley Cordova, yet she never speaks or lives on a single page.  Every character seems to have some Ashley anecdote, so McGrath - and we by extension - care more about the dead girl than the living ones.  The novel resembles "Rashomon" because it features various players telling vastly different versions of Ashley's brief life; often times the same exact event perceived by three different people.  Do we ever learn the truth?  Is there such a thing, or are they all, like the best films, simply stories we tell?

In the end, "Night Film" channels the great cinematic biopic "Citizen Kane" as it tackles the subject of the brilliant, flawed Stanislas Cordova.  While McGrath searches for answers to Ashley's death, he's really searching for Cordova's Rosebud.  We see both the complexities and simplicities of one man's life, and how the deeper you look, the more normal everyone becomes.  Even the great Hollywood icons.