Author: The JT LeRoy Story

This Albert person is so chronically and sickeningly manipulative. She calls writers and panders to their egos, feeding their need for adoration. They, in turn, help Albert get publishers and agents. Smart. Very smart.

Albert feeds HER need for attention and adoration by courting celebs and rock stars. Overweight, she could not have come forward as herself - she doesn't feel capable of doing so. But she is VERY capable of controlling the other players. I can't imagine how she accomplished this for so long. Albert even brought HER SON into this game...can you imagine how messed up THAT kid is going to be???

I have seen this film, and am sure Albert feels gratified that she has told her story well. Frankly, she just sounds mentally ill. This is a severely deranged and dangerous individual.

The subject of the film was very interesting but I became increasingly annoyed by the directors showing off. "I felt I was underwater' cut to footage shot underwater. 'I felt I was in a movie', cut to footage imitating a b movie, the director felt the need to underline everything as if the viewer could not imagine for themselves. Words were repeatedly scrawled over the image accompanied by an effect, OK for a while but it repeatedly became a stylistic tic. Tiresome. A shame because the subject was fascinating, It would have been better if the animations were in ironic counterpoint not simply illustrative. There were also many, many shots of telephones.

This wasn't really a big story here, at least I don't remember anything at the time, but in the US, JT LeRoy was a celebrated underground author. Only problem was, he's not real. For a pretty punk tale, this doc is extremely well crafted, lovingly drip feeding the viewer this somewhat tragic and almost poetic and fascinatingly complex story. An intense story of identity, "built brick by dysfunctional brick" with the levels that are reached becoming truly staggering. What is 'real' anyway.

"Author: The JT Leroy Story" (2016 release; 110 min.) brings the story of the JT Leroy literary phenomenon from the late 90s./early 00. As the movie opens, we see Winona Ryder give praise to JT Leroy for being such an inspiration. We then go back to "Brooklyn, 1995" and we get to know a woman by the name of Laura Albert, who, as it turns out, is the voice and brains behind JT Leroy, a shy 15 yr. old boy who may be imaginary to us, but is all too real in Laura's mind and, as we'll see in the movie, in the minds of many other people (Dennis Cooper, Bruce Benderson, Billy Corgan, Courtney Love, etc.). To tell you more of the story would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this documentary is written and directed by Jeff Feuerzeig, who previously brought us another outstanding documentary called "The Devil and Daniel Johnston". Here he examines the JT Leroy story, and the fine line that exists between original authorship and a hoax. When all this happened in the mid/late 90s, I was vaguely aware of it, but by no means in the amount of details that we are given here. It is an absolutely fascinating story that would be hard to believe, if in fact it hadn't happened. You can't make this stuff up! Laura Albert is of course a master storyteller, and she carries the documentary on her back, both for the good and for the not-so-good. As she points out, the books published under the JT Leroy name were clearly labeled "FICTION".

I saw "Author: The JT Leroy" this past weekend at the Landmark E Street Cinema in Washington, DC. The early evening screening where I saw this at was attended okay but not great (I don't know how long this has been playing already). If you are in the mood for a great documentary that examines many interesting aspects of what some call the greatest literary hoax ever, you cannot go wrong with this. "Author: The JT Leroy Story" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

I'll make this short but sweet.

A forty-year old straight woman wrote a couple of wonderful and beloved works of fiction.

She was subsequently accused of "manipulating the system" by posing as a young, gay male.

The fact is, those much beloved books probably never would have seen the light of day had she not take the route that she did.

And as a writer, that makes me madder than anything.