Life Itself (2014)

Life Itself: Directed by Steve James. With Martin Scorsese, Werner Herzog, Ava DuVernay, Stephen Stanton. The life and career of the renowned film critic and social commentator, Roger Ebert.

“(Full, more complete review on Influx Magazine.)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;When did you first want to become a film critic?u0026quot; is the question I get asked the most, second only to the obligatory u0026quot;what is your favorite movie?u0026quot; I always respond to the first question with the same story; I was a four-year-old boy, u0026quot;readingu0026quot; the u0026quot;Tempou0026quot; section of the u0026quot;Chicago Tribune,u0026quot; and by reading, I mean looking at the pictures of the movies in there, cutting them out, and pasting them to a scrapbook I would make. When I finally developed the ability to read, I would u0026quot;readu0026quot; some of Roger Ebertu0026#39;s reviews in the u0026quot;Chicago Sun-Times,u0026quot; and by read, I mean study and honestly look at his writing structure, often rereading sentences of his over and over that struck me as comedic or ones that hit home harder than I was ever used to being hit. To say Ebert was an influence on me and my writing is still a monumental oversimplification.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eEven more of an oversimplification than what Iu0026#39;m about to say concerning Steve Jamesu0026#39; long-awaited documentary u0026quot;Life Itself,u0026quot; based on the life and memoir of film critic Roger Ebert. I laughed, cried, talked back to the screen, voiced my own opinions, and indulged in some of the most gratifying and entertaining two hours of my life watching his documentary unfold. Frequently I wasnu0026#39;t subtle in showing my emotions, pervasively tearing up when I saw the way his loving wife Chaz Ebert would help and assist Roger in any way, shape, or form he needed, and sometimes just laughing or cheering at the hilarious and often vulgar banter him and his colleague Gene Siskel would exchange on the set of their show u0026quot;Sneak Previews.u0026quot; While all this was happening, the whole time wishing, hoping, and grieving to be half the film critic he was, leaving a tenth of the impact he did on a culture and an industry.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film chronicles the humble beginnings to the meteoric rise to fame Roger Ebert endured, coming from your average family in Illinois to becoming known and recognized at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign for his persistent editing and managing of the schoolu0026#39;s newspaper, u0026quot;The Daily Illini.u0026quot; Eventually, Ebert became the youngest film critic to ever hold the professional position for the u0026quot;Chicago Sun-Times,u0026quot; the liberal, blue collar, working class paper that directly competed with the wealthier and more conservative u0026quot;Chicago Tribuneu0026quot; right across the street. Ebert worked to breed life and an identity in the field where, before his time, film reviews were written by whomever happened to go to the movies that weekend under the name u0026quot;Mae Tineeu0026quot; – look at that name very closely.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt wasnu0026#39;t long before Ebert became known in the newspaper circle, winning the Pulitzer Prize early in his career, developing a TV show with the u0026quot;Chicago Tribuneu0026#39;su0026quot; film critic Gene Siskel, in one of Televisionu0026#39;s most charismatic and checkered relationships in the mediumu0026#39;s history, to his personal bouts with alcoholism, to becoming one with the industryu0026#39;s actors, directors, writers, and so forth. Numerous colleagues of Ebert speak out on his impact on an unrecognized industry, like film critic A.O. Scott of u0026quot;The New York Times,u0026quot; who labels Siskel and Ebertu0026#39;s Television show as a work of u0026quot;transgressivenessu0026quot; for the medium, being that these two men were who they were, verbally fighting about each others opinions on film, not complimenting and making classy remarks like u0026quot;I see your pointu0026quot; at the completion of each others sentences. They fought over opinions like you and your relatives do with political opinions and exchanges over the dinner table.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eEbert also made the casual man appreciate film for its aesthetics, its beauty, and its capabilities, commenting on the film medium as u0026quot;a machine that generates empathy,u0026quot; in a speech more beautiful than anything I could be given a year to cook up. He gave quieter independent films an outlet on his show with Siskel, so that you and I would know them more than just u0026quot;some arty movie playing downtown.u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eJames is all encompassing with u0026quot;Life Itself,u0026quot; tirelessly trying to capture everything that occurred in Ebertu0026#39;s life, and not only miraculously succeeding, but doing succeeding overwhelmingly, to the extent one would assume impossible in just two hours that were destined to race past, as they did. James develops on Ebertu0026#39;s long checkered bouts with cancer, multiple different surgeries, to even showing the last few months of his life, which were largely spent in hospitals with a tireless Chaz right by his side. A cruel but necessary juxtaposition of events comes when we see home video footage of Ebert walking with his step-grandson in Europe for lengthy periods of time contrasted with an ailing but determined Ebert struggling to walk on a treadmill at a rehabilitation facility, wheezing and becoming short of breath from just a few steps.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Life Itselfu0026quot; is destined to be the most emotional, moving documentary I see all year, if not the most emotional, moving film I see all year. Its detailing of a life so grand, a person so complex, and a man so original and captured in the spirit of himself in a delightfully open way makes for a film that I struggle to summarize in a way that gives it proper credit. In that case, I close my review of my current favorite documentary of 2014 in a softly poetic way, rather than a didactic or smarmy way, republishing an ode to Roger Ebert I wrote on part of my eighth grade class in 2009.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOde to Roger Ebertu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFilm Critic, Columnist, like a brother. Reviews movies like none other. Bias towards him, and the ones that came. But other reviews can never be the same. One star. Two stars. Three stars. Four. Others make reviewing seem like a chore. I like Ebert for evermore.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDirected by: Steve James.”