Ian Penman’s Fassbinder Thousands Of Mirrors isn’t a biography of the epic and controversial master filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder – it’s much more. It’s chock-a-block with quotes and confessions, famous writers, artists, politics, history, social commentary and a bit of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll, among – of course – film talk. Like me, you’ll have to re-read this, not least because it’s a who’s who of post-WWII culture world.

The narrative isn’t linear, except for Fassbinder’s birth and death at near the beginning and end, and isn’t divided by chapters; it has numbered paragraphs. Penman, a writer, music journalist (most notably for NME) and critic, parallels his life amongst Fassbinder’s in a casual but very detailed way. The man had a voracious appetite for more than just food that ultimately killed him at 37, but he was also more than a director. RWF was an actor, dramatist, composer, production designer, cinematographer, producer and editor.

Penman’s wanted to write about the man who’s had a huge effect on him for decades, and after much procrastination, pounded out Fassbinder Thousands Of Mirrors during lockdown under a self-imposed deadline. Regarding Fassbinder’s films, he tells us he doesn’t want to sum up or “watch every last film and give it a mark out of 10,” so don’t look for that in this, his first original book.

Like RWF during his childhood, Penman devours films, going to the cinema all the time – and also becomes addicted to drugs for a long period. Unlike Fassbinder, Germany’s enfant terrible, he finds a way out, to become one of the prolific genius’ biggest fans.