ironhorse_iv Review of Life Itself

Life Itself (2014)

Two Thumbs Up: Life Itself was pretty interesting bio-pic documentary.

[8/10 · 10 July 2014]

If you're a huge movie buff, you owe it to yourself to view this wonderful documentary about one of the most legendary movie critics of all times, Roger Ebert. I may not always agree with him, but I respect his opinion. Based on Robert Ebert's 2011 memoir of the same name, this movie is not outside of critical thinking. It's would be, a bit unkind not to review this film in depth. Directed by Steve James of 1994's Hoop Dreams fame, the film features interviews and footage with Ebert during the last months of his life; intercuts with other interviews of his friends, colleagues, and family talking about his life. The film routine television clips of his show with Gene Siskel, personal photos, and other public appearances with that of Ebert. James narrates passages from Ebert's writing from his book and his reviews, in voice over. Sometimes, it related with what's happening on film, sometimes not really connecting. One thing, missing in the film is structure in the narrative flow. It jumps around too much. It goes from telling his childhood, to his times as an alcoholic, back to his childhood, his time with Gene Siskel, to his newspapers days, back to Gene Siskel, and so on, so on. It's kinda confusing and distracting with certain stories appear out of sequence and are repetitive in nature. I know the film doesn't always need a three act structure, but for a bio-pic, I think it does. You only heard clip bits of his life, and it does skip a lot from the book. Surprising, there is no mention of time with Richard Roeper, the fact that he dated Oprah Winfrey, and the fact that his mother was an alcoholic, just like himself. There was even an attempted deathbed confession of one of his aunts in the film, that wasn't mention. You just have to wonders if she were trying to tell him that she is his biological mother. That's a pretty significant event that was missing out in the film~! Another thing that was deeply missing is Ebert fight with his Catholic roots. He was not a religious man, rejecting the Catholicism of his childhood. You can see that in the book, but not in the film. It would be amazing to hear what he thought about faith being so close to death. While the movie isn't much about the movies that he did review. There were some mentions of it, throughout the film. It was nice to see cameos from Directors Martin Scorsese to Werner Herzog talking about how much, he praise and roast their films. Sadly, there were little mentions of Ebert biggest fights with Hollywood, in such the case of Vincent Gallo 2003's Brown Bunny's controversy, and the debate with Clive Barker about if video games are art or not. Things that I love about the documentary that the memoir didn't had. I love that the film went into Gene Siskel's life more. I like that the film really digs into the bad side of Ebert's way of reviewing films, and also, it didn't felt like an all talk ego-trip. I'm glad, they cut all the homage of John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, and especially Lee Marvin from the book. Gees… Ebert talk about them, way too much in the book. For a rated R film, it's pretty tame. There are a few crude languages that isn't that harsh. The nudity honestly could had been cut out. There was little to no sense of showing it. Did you really need to show tits & asses from clips of 1970's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls in which Ebert wrote the screenplay for, and Siskel hanging out with Playboy Models. Still, even some modern PG-13 films show more nudity than this film. Honestly, the movie could had gone with a PG-13. The only disturbing scenes in the film, are the ones with Ebert trying to walk and eat after gaining throat cancer. I found myself, trying to block out my eyes, during the whole suction food scene. I really felt bad for the guy. It was like watching your hero die slowly in front of you. For some viewers, this film might be hard to watch. Sadly, the movie wasn't finish before Ebert's death on April 4, 2013, so he never got to see the film. It premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and had a good theatrical run. The film was aired on CNN Films on television. There were some censored scenes in the CNN version due to the harsh language and nudity. So if you going to find a version to watch, don't tape the CNN one if you want the whole film. Overall: A great biography of a remarkable man. He might be fade out, but not fade away. He'll always be at the movies.