Jay Myself (2018)

In 2015, photographer Jay Maisel sold the 30,000 square foot former bank that had been his home for the previous almost fifty years. This documentary attempts to cover the days leading up to the big move. Directed by Stephen Wilkes, a mentee of Maisel, it seems that the director may have been a little too close to the subject matter. It touches a bit on Maisel’s career, but is not very thorough especially for anyone unfamiliar with his work. It provides images and descriptions of some of the uses for the many, many rooms in the fantastic building, but only through fleeting glimpses. One of my many obsessions is to see the layouts of homes and I was left wanting. It details a bit of what goes into a move of that size, but one is left to just marvel as to how even a small team of people can manage so much stuff. At a relatively short runtime, it short changes all of its possibilities though I still enjoyed the small windows it provided.