Jim Shepard's novel about the German filmmaker F.W. Murnau breaks his life into four parts -- youth, war, and two films (Nosferatu and Tabu) -- to reveal his character. It is that of an outsider, but perhaps more interesting than the director himself are Shepard's imagined but researched accounts of the technical challenges that faced Murnau in achieving his artistic objectives. At one point he is shown getting his hands dirty dressing a miniature set with floss doubling as grass. Cameras on wires crash and are rebuilt. Technology is invented on the spot, and work is the source of art.
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