{"id":16050,"date":"2014-11-20T15:01:04","date_gmt":"2014-11-20T15:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=16050"},"modified":"2015-02-20T06:25:18","modified_gmt":"2015-02-20T06:25:18","slug":"life-itself-review-ebert-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2014\/11\/20\/life-itself-review-ebert-movie\/","title":{"rendered":"Life Itself"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Steve_James_(producer)\">Steve James<\/a> is one of the best filmmakers of his generation, and his latest documentary is a deeply insightful portrait of the life and legacy of US film critic <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Roger_Ebert\">Roger Ebert<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A US film critic might sound like an unlikely subject for a full length feature, but as <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_Joyce\">James Joyce<\/a> once <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_Joyce#Early_Life\">wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIn the particular is contained the universal\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This quote rings especially true here: a cornucopia of experiences and emotions compressed into a moving narrative via through the lens of an individual life.<\/p>\n<p>Using Ebert\u2019s 2009 memoir as a platform, the basic outline involves: his formative years in <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Urbana,_Illinois\">Urbana, Illinois<\/a>; a long career in print at the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chicago_Sun-Times\">Chicago Sun-Times<\/a> and subsequently on television with <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gene_Siskel\">Gene Siskel<\/a>; it concludes with his final years, where he <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/roger_ebert_remaking_my_voice\">lost his old voice to cancer<\/a> but found <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/\">a new one online<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z4SgwBRq-fU\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Peppered throughout are startling scenes of the \u2018other\u2019 Roger: the screenwriter who co-wrote Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) with Russ Meyer and a never-made project with the Sex Pistols; the prodigious journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1975, but nearly drank himself into oblivion.<\/p>\n<p>He was also an early champion of directors such as <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Martin_Scorsese\">Martin Scorsese<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Werner_Herzog\">Werner Herzog<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Errol_Morris\">Errol Morris<\/a>, all of whom talk warmly of him, even when he disliked some of their work. (Herzog even ended up dedicating his 2007 documentary <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Encounters_at_the_End_of_the_World\">Encounters at the End of the World <\/a>to his fellow \u2018<a href=\"http:\/\/www.indiewire.com\/article\/watch-and-weep-as-the-film-industry-remembers-the-late-roger-ebert-beloved-soldier-of-cinema\">soldier of cinema<\/a>\u2019.)<\/p>\n<p>There are also some hilarious outtakes from the TV show he presented with rival Chicago critic Gene Siskel. Whether it was <a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/zZCoV9GkiUc\">squabbling like a married couple over Full Metal Jacket (1987)<\/a> or whose name should come first on the title (Siskel won out), both found the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Yin_and_yang\">Yin to the others Yang<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Crucially though, the rich archival and interview material is skilfully weaved in with the personal: his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/rogers-journal\/roger-loves-chaz\">beloved wife Chaz<\/a> who provided critical emotional and practical support in his later years.<\/p>\n<p>Diagnosed with cancer in 2002, his condition eventually led to him losing his lower jaw and ability to speak.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/embed-ssl.ted.com\/talks\/roger_ebert_remaking_my_voice.html\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>However, as an early adopter of the web, he eventually found a new audience through his voice-activated computer, an extensive website and on Twitter.<\/p>\n<p>It was in the\u00a0medium, which almost seemed invented for him, that he wrote deeply powerful meditations on not just the latest films, but his own existence and, by extension, ours.<\/p>\n<p>Four years before his death in 2013 he wrote:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI know it is coming, and I do not fear it, because I believe there is nothing on the other side of death to fear. I hope to be spared as much pain as possible on the approach path. I was perfectly content before I was born, and I think of death as the same state. What I am grateful for is the gift of intelligence, and for life, love, wonder, and laughter. You can&#8217;t say it wasn&#8217;t interesting.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>These words are used at one point in the film and I suspect they have special resonance for director Steve James. His documentaries, which include Hoop Dreams (1994) and The Interrupters (2011), are often fascinating, humane explorations of people\u2019s lives in <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chicago\">Chicago<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Windy City is an almost tangible presence in this film, it was the place where Ebert penned his reviews at his beloved newspaper (The Sun-Times), where he married his soulmate Chaz and where he found a nationwide platform to champion films like Hoop Dreams.<\/p>\n<p>For James, Life Itself feels like the culmination of an unofficial Chicago trilogy, but it is also seems to be the most personal of his works: a joyous celebration of a man who loved movies, people and life.<\/p>\n<p>&gt; <a href=\"http:\/\/lifeitself.vhx.tv\/\">Official website for Life Itself<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ebertmovie\">Twitter feed<\/a><br \/>\n&gt; <a href=\"http:\/\/dogwoof.com\/films\/life-itself\">Get local listings via Dogwoof<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/dp\/B00P9KQLEU\">pre-order the DVD<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/gb\/movie\/life-itself\/id935691191?uo4&amp;at=11ldfu\">rent or buy via iTunes UK<\/a><br \/>\n&gt; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/\">RogerEbert.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Steve James is one of the best filmmakers of his generation, and his latest documentary is a deeply insightful portrait of the life and legacy of US film critic Roger Ebert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,5],"tags":[2715,58],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16050"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16050"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16124,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16050\/revisions\/16124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}