Ex Libris: The New York Public Library

Composite Score: 81.3

Featuring: Ta-Nehisi Coates, Elvis Costello, and Richard Dawkins

Director: Frederick Wiseman

Producers: Frederick Wiseman and Karen Konicek

Genre: Documentary

MPAA Rating: N/A

Box Office: $198 thousand worldwide

Why should you Watch This Film?

                An extensive deep dive into all the inner workings of the New York library system, Ex Libris provides viewers with a broader understanding of the importance of public libraries and the many services that they offer. Wiseman creates a documentary without a narrator, allowing the library and its owners and patrons to speak for themselves. It is an interesting practice that pays off for the most part, persuading its audience of the library’s importance and informing them of what is needed to help it continue on. To an intuitive watcher, the film offers a larger commentary on the need in the public for public libraries and their continued funding.

Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?

                At 3 hours and 25 minutes, this film’s runtime is a slog, especially for a documentary with very limited narrative and no overarching narration to tie it all together. This is a film that should probably be consumed in parts as it transitions back and forth between scenes of individuals using the library’s vast resources and guest speakers delivering keynote addresses on various topics. Each individual segment is its own unique short, making it ideal for short form viewing but a difficult process for one watch.

                While a solid choice, the lack of unifying narrator might also hinder some who are less familiar or comfortable with documentaries. Narration often helps audiences feel as though they are in on whatever is going on, while this film invites the viewer to create their own narration and narrative and to become a part of what is going on. This challenge might prove more than some viewers want from a film during a particular sitting, turning them off to it.

So wait, why should you Watch This Film?

                On top of its rewarding deep dive into the inner workings and plannings of a public library, the film also presents multiple engrossing talks from scholars that were presented at the New York Public Library, which carry through the most unifying themes of the film. Most of the talks and town halls and interviews presented by the library in the film cover the topics of racial education and honesty in scholarship. For viewers interested in such issues, the offerings of the film are gripping. Talks clarifying the role of African Muslims in slavery, breaking down the importance of the delicatessen to the development of New York Jewish heritage, and even presenting an exploration of story and poetry based around Alice in Wonderland that leads to a spoken word performance. Each mini-segment of the film presents a highly rewarding and edifying topic to explore, giving even deeper encouragement to support your local library.

                Frederick Wiseman delivers Ex Libris as a film that invites its viewers to become a part of the system it explains. While its lack of narration and minimal narrative might be a factor that dissuades some viewers, they allow the audience to truly appreciate the offerings of the New York Public Library and give the Library the opportunity to speak for itself. The daunting runtime should not stop you from enjoying and exploring the many talks and features presented within the documentary, especially in small doses – there’s no rule that says you can’t consume film like books, and this film about a book repository certainly presents itself in a way similar to an anthology book, easily divisible into its different chapters.