Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles

This documentary is a fascinating, poignant effort to assess the life of mysterious expatriate writer Paul Bowles. It includes archival "home movie" footage, as well as interviews with William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and other "beat" era writers who knew Bowles and his wife Jane during his 50 years in Morocco. This documentary is a fascinating, poignant effort to assess the life of mysterious expatriate writer Paul Bowles. It includes archival "home movie" footage, as well as interviews with William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and other "beat" era writers who knew Bowles and his wife Jane during his 50 years in Morocco. We see a man who is obviously on death's doorstep, but who has made a semblance of peace with himself and his past. He discusses his philosophy on writing (he basically doesn't have one), his life with Jane, his homosexuality, and his complex relationship with his adopted country. This film does not earn a higher rating, because it teases more than it tells . . . probably due to the difficulty of getting information from Bowles. It will make you want to read his autobiography and all his other literary works, if you haven't already done so.