Synopsis
Gregory Crewdson's riveting photographs are elaborately staged, elegant narratives compressed into a single, albeit large-scale image, many of them taken at twilight, set in small towns of Western Massachusetts or meticulously recreated interior spaces, built on the kind of sound stages associated with big-budget movies. Shapiro's fascinating profile of the acclaimed artist includes stories of his Park Slope childhood (in which he tried to overhear patients of his psychologist father), his summers in the bucolic countryside (which he now imbues with a sense of dread and foreboding), and his encounter with Diane Arbus's work in 1972 at age 10. Novelists Rick Moody and Russell Banks, and fellow photographer Laurie Simmons, comment on the motivation behind their friend's haunting images—©Zeitgeist



“With marvelous discipline, Mr. Shapiro crams a wealth of material into a tight 77 minutes, smoothly communicating the group effort required to achieve the perfect shot.”—Jeanette Catsoulis, New York Times

“For those unfamiliar with Crewdson's oeuvre, the docu serves as a delicious eye-opener... for fans it furnishes an unprecedented look at his long-secret methods...”—Ronnie Scheib, Daily Variety

“...finely sketched.... it's the on-set agonies -- to achieve the fleeting expression here, dark kiss of light there, and the peculiar relief they bring our maestro -- that fascinate.”—Michelle Orange, Village Voice/LA Weekly