Does the inside of a bookshop take on the personality of its owner? Or does a bookseller inevitably become a storyteller by a process of osmosis over the decades spent surrounded by the printed word? In the case of Matthew Tannenbaum, the subject of this quietly life-affirming documentary, it’s almost impossible to pinpoint the place where the man ends and his treasure trove of a shop begins. The Bookstore in Lenox, Massachusetts, is a beloved local institution. Tannenbaum knows most of his customers by name. Those he doesn’t recognise are treated like friends yet to be made. The decor is eclectic (there’s a roll of Donald Trump toilet paper displayed); the shop’s finances run on a wing and a prayer. Then comes the pandemic. The community support for the embattled shop surprises nobody, except, perhaps Tannenbaum, the ageing hippy whose love of literature is evident on every groaning shelf.
In cinemas and on Apple TV+
