‘I feel personally that a word has never been written or uttered that should not be published,” free-speech hero Barney Rosset says in “Obscene,” a compelling documentary about him directed by neophytes Neil Ortenberg and Daniel O’Connor.
As publisher of Evergreen magazine and owner of Grove Press in the 1960s, Rosset introduced Americans to such writers as Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, Malcolm X and Harold Pinter.
Perhaps more importantly, he sued for and won the right to publish D.H. Lawrence’s “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” Henry Miller’s “Tropic of Cancer” and William S. Burroughs’ “The Naked Lunch,” three novels deemed obscene (they’re not) by censors.
He even dabbled in film distribution, defying bans to show the sexually free 1967 Swedish movie “I Am Curious (Yellow),” whose fans included Jackie Kennedy.
Poet Ed Sanders, novelist Erica Jong (“Fear of Flying”), filmmaker John Sayles and Rosset’s eldest son, Peter, are among those heaping praise on Rosset, who is now in his 80s and still feisty.
In fact, he continues to publish Evergreen – only now, it’s online (evergreenreview.com).
Running time: 97 minutes. Not rated (profanity, sexual images). At Cinema Village, 12th Street, east of Fifth Avenue.