Publishers Weekly
★ 02/26/2024
After 40 years spent “on the less-glamorous side of the camera telling other people’s stories,” director Seidelman (Desperately Seeking Susan) takes a lively jaunt through her own. After a childhood spent in a Philadelphia suburb in the 1960s, Seidelman discovered a love for movies in college and later attended NYU’s graduate film school, finding inspiration in the 1970s feminist movement and the city’s buzzing, subversive punk subculture. Three years out of film school, she began work on Smithereens (1982), a movie that reflected her fascination with female characters who sought to “break out of the boxes they were stuck in,” and became the first low-budget independent American film to compete for the Palme d’Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival; her sophomore hit, Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), starred Madonna and catapulted her to mainstream success; she later directed the first four episodes of Sex and the City in 1997, among other projects. Interwoven with fascinating behind-the-scenes detail, Seidelman vividly traces the evolution of her artistic vision, combining the strong, feisty heroines of classic screwball comedies with the playful, postmodern spirit of New Wave film. It’s an enthralling look at a trailblazing filmmaker’s perseverance and vision. Agent: Susan Golomb, Writers House. (June)
From the Publisher
"Interwoven with fascinating behind-the-scenes detail, Seidelman vividly traces the evolution of her artistic vision, combining the strong, feisty heroines of classic screwball comedies with the playful, postmodern spirit of New Wave film. It’s an enthralling look at a trailblazing filmmaker’s perseverance and vision." - Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Seidelman offers a revealing peek into her four-decade career in Hollywood. The author delivers an unguarded portrait of her life, telling it her way. Seidelman’s films have always reflected her hopes for a more just society and a world that allows women to tell their stories; her book also demonstrates those themes." - Kirkus
"Susan Seidelman has directed and created some of the most iconic and audacious characters of our time—her new book is a dazzling encapsulation of them and of her life’s work. Part time capsule and part memoir—her gritty “I’ll show you” determination will inspire any woman who wants to make her mark on the world. 'Desperately Seeking Something' is a super-relatable, unputdownable tour de force. I just love this book!"—Marisa Acocella, New York Times bestselling author of CANCER VIXEN
"Susan Seidleman has long held my awe as a brilliant filmmaker. Now she's won my admiration as a superb memoirist by taking me in her footsteps and through her eyes into shared territories; 50s childhood, 60s mod girlhood, DIY punk culture, the earliest wild west days of American indie film, her riveting path through the ups and downs of this profession behind the camera, and her honest reveal of the struggle women artists face when balancing commitment to their work and to their families while still having fun with it all. This is the book we've been desperately seeking; you'll find bits of yourself in her exhilarating journey." - Allison Anders, filmmaker
"Susan Seidelman's riveting memoir is like one of her films — engrossingly quirky, broadly entertaining, an invaluable document of an era in filmmaking, and frequently totally surprising. What a joy when one of your favorite filmmakers writes one of your new favorite books."–Matthew Rettemund, Encyclopedia Madonnica
Library Journal
★ 04/01/2024
Movie director Seidelman's memoir, with a title referencing her smash-hit 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan, is a breezy read about her life from childhood through the present day. Most of the narrative takes place in New York City in the 1970s and 1980s. That's when Seidelman attended film school and started making feature films, at a time when few women were directing movies. Her films focused on unconventional women expressing themselves and their autonomy, a theme that carried through 1982's punk flick Smithereens (the first U.S. indie film to compete at Cannes) and the Seidelman-directed pilot of Sex and the City. The chapters are short, and each is titled after a song that thematically fits the content of the chapter. Many black-and-white photos of movie sets, events from Seidelman's career, and her family are interspersed throughout the book. Her stories are compelling and offer a glimpse into a little-known independent-film world. There are also vivid descriptions of the New York City artist culture in the late 20th century. VERDICT A quick and easy read about the life and career of a trailblazing filmmaker. Will appeal to many audiences, including those unfamiliar with Seidelman's career. Fans of Jay and Mark Duplass's Like Brothers, Tim Murphy's Christodora, or Alice Bag's Violence Girl will especially enjoy.—Heather Sheahan
