Journalist, author, and filmmaker Lande (The 10 Best of Everything
), former creative director for Time Inc. magazines, follows two imaginative boys from post-WWII New Orleans to 1970s Hollywood. After meeting in the French Quarter over a game of marbles, privileged Rigby Canfield and polio-stricken Homer Sincere take up an 8mm movie camera and begin recording the magic of their neighborhood, including the “best vegetable vendor in the Quarter,” who becomes the boys' first mentor. When his mother dies, Homer is sent to La Vielle Maison, a foster home run by Father Rivage, an ex-con who funds the establishment with forged art and hard cider; he also introduces Homer to literary classics like The Odyssey
and Huckleberry Finn
, urging him to become a “Soldier of the Word.” Later, both Rigby and Homer land at Henry Luce's Time-Life in New York, where their friendship is tested by a common love interest, as well as news stories taking them from Iowa to Israel; still, neither can shake dreams of moviemaking. Lande employs quirky plotting and characters like John Irving, along with Doctorowesque historical cameos, but the result is flat-footed and unconvincing. (May)
