It’s undoubtedly intimidating to write, begin to write, or even think about writing a review of a film centred around one of film criticism’s most influential figures – especially if you are a new and relatively unknown reviewer. There’s also a perverse irony to it, watching as the man behind such a revered and unfaltering voice is himself held up as subject, vulnerable and exposed, for audience and critic alike to scrutinise. Of course though, when reviewing a film, focus should be placed on its composition and production – its ability to shape a coherent narrative and to fulfil promises made to an anticipating viewer – not on the critical integrity of the man it’s about. However, Steve James’s documentary, Life Itself, so fully reveals its subject, the cherished film critic Roger Ebert, that it dissolves that layer of artifice which, particularly in documentary film, so often acts as a barrier between audience and subject. We become unaware, to an extent, of the cinematic conventions at play, and are immersed in Ebert’s own playful, intoxicating, wordy world of movies.
In a somewhat poetic inversion of convention, filmmaker pays tribute to critic whilst critic finds himself in the position of celebrity and artist, exposing himself to a very different kind of public scrutiny. It helps that James was an admirer and acquaintance of Ebert’s, benefitting from the writer’s influential good opinion when beginning his own career. As such, an unprecedented level of intimacy is felt between James and Ebert from the first frame, allowing the audience to feel connected immediately.
James has compiled a compendium of testimonies and anecdotes from those closest to Ebert, creating a web of experiences that develop and add depth to an already rich picture of the man. Interviews (to name a few) with filmmaker and the project’s executive producer, Martin Scorsese, critic, Richard Corliss, and artist/jobless gadfly, Bruce Elliott, intersperse less structured footage of Ebert, at time of filming unable to speak or eat, in hospital.
Originally meant simply to be an adaptation of Ebert’s eponymous autobiography, Life Itself’s intentions changed dramatically when the cancer that had previously incapacitated Ebert returned, leaving him him six to sixteen months to live. As James dryly says on camera, however, ‘it makes for a better story’. As a result, the film becomes as much about Ebert’s wife, Chaz, and their relationship – the nature of love, endurance and illness – as it is about his life and career. Chaz, a woman of admirable strength and conviction, gives voice to what Roger cannot, portraying the testing life of someone living with another’s terminal illness.
Ebert’s unfailing charm and wit still shine through, however, and – while charged with emotional turbulence – the film, at its heart, distils a true passion and love for cinema, making it more celebratory than it is macabre. It will make you cry, but it will also make you want to go to the movies.
Showing @ Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow, Tue 16 Dec – Thu 18 Dec