Brian

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Perhaps the format of the novel Brian is author Jeremy Cooper’s own tip of the hat to Brian’s special appreciation of glacially paced Japanese films in which nothing much happens on the outside, but inside, the characters’ lives are tumultuous yet measured. Secondly, what I imagine will be discussed the most about about this novel, is its value to anyone unfamiliar with the wide breadth of cinema it refers to, primarily Japanese post war film.

Brian by Jeremy Cooper The quiet joy of a deep interest: Brian by Jeremy Cooper

So it’s good to have an outlet like this one where I can try to process my reaction to books and share that with other people who might be interested. For a person so quiet and reserved, so frightened and anxious, Brian actually has a very rich inner life, thanks to the art of filmmaking and the camaraderie of kindred spirits. Slowly he starts to become enamoured by cinema and the book documents his progress from the 90’s all the way to the present day. For other reasons too: the lyricism of the Texan landscape through which Josey Wales pursued without mercy the Unionist guerrillas, killers of his wife and children; and for the depiction of peasant farmers of Missouri as people with hopes and pain. A lovely story of the quiet life of a socially awkward Londoner who finds a sense of purpose, relating to the world through cinema.The seat he liked best, in the shade of a horse chestnut tree, was near one of the playgrounds, surrounded by a low wire fence over which balls and balloons escaped and which Brian used to retrieve and throw back. He is a solitary figure, living alone in rented rooms in North London, who, after a visit to the British Film Institute on the Southbank, finds joy in cinema, soon going to a movie at the BFI all seven nights of the week, two films an evening on retirement. The necessary questions to ask, in my opinion, are: do depictions of the characters and happenings convince in themselves; and does the text construct a fictional edifice which functions effectively within its own terms?

Brian by Jeremy Cooper — Books on the Hill Brian by Jeremy Cooper — Books on the Hill

It’s as if Cooper had amassed similarly voluminous notes to his main character having attended the NFT with similar devotion and wondered if he somehow couldn’t make a book about them. Restrained isolated men such as Brian seldom feature in fiction and yet, treated with authorial care and empathy, the story of his life touches wider human concerns. If the intent of the novel was to portray the rather tedious musings of someone obsessed with a topic and with little empathy for those who aren't (the one time Brian snaps is when he finds himself chatting to a fellow film fan only to find, to his strongly expressed horror, that the 'cheat' has watched the films on a laptop rather than a cinema) then it succeeds, but by definition does so my making for a rather tedious read. Avoiding improvisation and spur-of-the-moment decisions, Brian is keen on routines well-defined and predictable. The book is at its strongest in portraying the comeradeship, if not really relationship, Brian enjoys with his fellow buffs, many of them socially unconventional, and indeed Brian looks down on some of them in the same way that Beavis has contempt for Butthead.It is October 1985 when Lynn moves to the capital to study at Saint Martin’s, later making a successful career as an artist.