Conclusions

by John Boorman

'What a life! What a career!' Harold Pinter

'Boorman is one of the world's great directors, a master storyteller.' Paul Auster

John Boorman is one of cinema's authentic visionaries whose travels have taken him from London in the Blitz to the pinnacle of Hollywood success: the man behind filmes such as Point Blank, Deliverance, Excalibur, Hope and Glory, and The General.

Conclusions continues the story of his life that Boorman began with Adventures of a Suburban Boy and shares what has happened since its publication: films made (such as the award-winning The General) and unmade; new knowledge about the craft of film-making; and, ultimately, the story of of his kith and kin, including the death of his cherished elder daughter.

Wielding a metaphorical Excalibur, Boorman's career has been a continual search for the truth that only art can convey, and this memoir shows him at his finest.

Genres: Film, Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography

ebook

Published February 20, 2020

About the author

John Boorman is an English filmmaker who is a long time resident of Ireland and is best known for his feature films such as Point Blank, Deliverance, Excalibur, The Emerald Forest, Hope and Glory, The General and The Tailor of Panama.

Reviews

[Matthew W · Rating 3 out of 5]

The bittersweet (final) autobiography of a man that is ready to die and is relatively at peace with that. In that sense, it is quite comparable to Boorman's contemporary Nicolas Roeg's THE WORLD IS EVER CHANGING. Simultaneously dejecting yet life-affirming, this book hardly feels like it was written by the man behind POINT BLANK and ZARDOZ. Of course, not unlike his films over the past couple decades, CONCLUSIONS is clearly the work of a man that has mellowed out and should be approached as such. While very self-critical, Boorman is rarely critical of his own art but instead pays tribute to the great cinematographers and other collaborators that helped make (some of) his films great.

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real joy. Engaging and inspirational.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable, with some interesting references to his movies, but overall rather bitsy, albeit with the pervading theme of impending death.
The book is full of name-dropping; not surprising, given the work Boorman does/did. But the part I found slightly bemusing was that everyone of his neighbours seemed to be an eccentric, and or well-known, or connected to well-known people. If your famous, other famous people seem to attach themselves to you.
Boorman includes a number of his poems. They seem a bit loose, and only occasional poetic (not that I'm looking for rhyme, but a bit more rhythm wouldn't go amiss).

[Michael Samerdyke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book starts very strong. Boorman gives terrific advice about moviemaking, and he lays out the difference between moviemaking and making series like "Game of Thrones" very clearly and better than anyone I've seen.

However, after the mid-point of this book he starts talking about his house in Ireland, the eccentric neighbors he's had, the importance of water, types of trees, and my interest just went away.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A final memoir from the great director covering the technical aspects of movie making, great directors, actors and actresses, name-dropping, his family, his home in Annamoe, his trees, some poems. Disparate and lacking in focus but entertaining and, towards the end as he contemplates his own mortality and all the friends that have gone before him, powerful and touching.

[Phillip Nicholson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice addendum to his great autobiography Adventures of A Suburban Boy. Although it contains some great stories from his career it’s mainly a very bittersweet collection of thoughts on mortality and reflections on his friends and life. It will be a sad day indeed when he shuffles off this mortal coil.

[Scott Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I come to Boorman for film information, not so much for philosophy. But this is a fine memoir with plenty of insight into the film art form and industry. He will be missed. His previous volume, Money Into Light was just about perfect.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

The great bits are Boorman's frank insights on filmmaking and people, the not so great are his poems about trees.