Fans of
KCRW’s Bookworm
host Michael Silverblatt will be excited to learn that now they can see him talk about books as well as hear him. Silverblatt plays a bit part in “
Bob’s New Suit,
” a film that opens in the LA area tonight.
The sympathetic role of the “Reader” was written just for Silverblatt by writer/director Alan Howard.
Howard is making his directorial debut at age 69. For the past 15 years, he’s worked with Silverblatt as an associate producer on Bookworm.
Bob Goodlow is a landscape gardener and handyman. His dad Buster, a patriotic ex-aerospace worker with a secret past, is now unemployed and suffering from congestive heart failure. Bob’s sister Stephanie does the books for her girlfriend Marlena’s hair salon and holds a secret of her own, just bursting to come out. Polly, their mother, helps with the struggling finances by selling antique dolls on Ebay and worries for everyone, as only mothers can. When Bob proposes to his long time love, Jenny, and his “too cool” cousin, George, proposes a get-rich quick scheme, a series of events unfold which changes their lives forever. Radical politics, gender identity, the joy of books, rare orchids, a couple of beers and one lonely Italian suit come together in this deftly interwoven story about love, family, the legacy of the 1960’s and the unexpected.
Intrigued? You can see Silverblatt on and in front of the silver screen Friday night at Arena Cinema, where he’ll also conduct a Q&A with the director at 7:45 pm.
And you can see the trailer here: