A MOVIE MADE BY THE BOOK.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

`STONE READER'' is the first movie I can remember that ends with a bibliography, which is appropriate because it's also the first movie I can recall that really inspired me to read afterward.

And not just read a particular book - like watching, say, ``The Quiet American'' and then wanting to return to the Graham Greene novel for further pleasure. No, ``Stone Reader'' lovingly mentions so many titles during its running time that you'll want to head to a bookstore immediately afterward with credit card in tow.

Taking notes, I wrote down six authors I wanted to investigate further. And that doesn't even include Dow Mossman, who is ostensibly the subject of the movie. When filmmaker Mark Moskowitz read Mossman's 1972 novel, ``The Stones of Summer'' after years of neglecting it, he believed he had discovered one of the 10 greatest first novels of the 20th century. Moskowitz immediately set out to read everything else Mossman had written. What he discovered was that ``Stones of Summer'' was the ONLY thing Mossman had written. Moskowitz decided to find out why.

While we do learn something about Mossman and ``Stones of Summer,'' Moskowitz's movie really isn't about either one. As Moskowitz follows leads in his pursuit of the mysterious Mossman, the willfully digressive film slowly becomes a graceful meditation about the demands we make upon artists, the demands artists take upon themselves and, above all, our searching need to find art that transforms our lives. As a bonus, the movie also works as the cinematic equivalent of a good page-turner.

``Stone Reader'' is the first movie from Moskowitz, an appealingly nerdy family man living in Pennsylvania with a successful career making political campaign spots. You can see the influences of his day job here, as he fills out the movie with pretty shots of autumn days, carnival nights and expansive skies. Rather than seeming unessential, these scenes add to the film's gentle, delicate tone. You won't see a movie with a bigger heart this year.

That's largely a function of Moskowitz's genial personality. He has such a passion for ``Stones of Summer'' and for reading in general that it's impossible not to become caught up in his eloquent enthusiasm. Meeting the man who had reviewed Mossman's novel all those years ago in The New York Times, Moskowitz says, ``I thought I had known him my whole life - he had taken trips to some of the far-off places I thought only I had seen.''

Moskowitz, of course, is referring to the journeys he has taken through his favorite books. How nice that he has distilled those trips and a lifetime of living into this beautiful, knowing movie. Like Mossman, he might be a one-shot wonder. But, oh, what a wonderful shot it is.

STONE READER - Four stars

(Not rated: contains brief language in context of reading a passage from the James Jones novel ``The Thin Red Line'')

Director: Mark Moskowitz.

Running time: 2 hr. 8 min.

Playing: Landmark's Nuart in West Los Angeles. (Filmmaker Mark Moskowitz will participate in a Q&A session following tonight's 7 p.m. screening at the Nuart.)

In a nutshell: A love letter to the transforming power of books.

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Photo:

Mark Moskowitz, left, discusses ``The Stones of Summer'' with John Seelye, who reviewed the book for The New York Times in 1972 in the documentary ``Stone Reader.''