Henry Miller: Asleep & Awake

Filmmaker Tom Schiller’s 1972 short documentary finds the 81-year-old Henry Miller (1891-1980), author of the notorious 1934 novel Tropic of Cancer, discoursing on a wide variety of topics, almost entirely from the confines of his Pacific Palisades apartment. The film begins with Miller waking up and heading to the bathroom, where carefully placed pictures on the wall prompt a series of recollections. Miller muses about hearing "celestial music" when he travels on airplanes and about the connection between Zen and sex; enthuses over authors and artists he admires, including Blaise Cendrars, Hermann Hesse, Hieronymus Bosch, and Paul Gauguin; opines about Mad King Louis II of Bavaria; discusses the principles of Buddhism and the mystic George Gurdjieff; and wonders at an obscure stone carving by Carl Jung and Japanese pictographs. He also describes his recurrent nightmares—especially those challenging his own identity—and talks about women he has known, revealing several semi-pornographic items hidden behind the window shutters. The film closes outside—on the set of old New York created for the film of Hello, Dolly!—where Miller recalls his miserable childhood and voices his continued loathing for the city. Miller’s wide-ranging observations provide an amusing glimpse into the mental world of this articulate, controversial writer. Extras include an interview with the director. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)