Intimate footage of Ebert’s later battles with cancer (the loss of his entire lower jaw couldn’t dampen his spirits) paints a picture of a man surrounded by a loving family in whose company he found great happiness his wife, Chaz, is a magnificent presence – an example of the best in human nature, a subject to which Ebert returned compulsively in his writing. Elsewhere, Martin Scorsese struggles hilariously to find anything good to say about Russ Meyer’s Ebert-scripted exploiter Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, but remains a passionate advocate of Ebert’s incisive criticism, which he credits with spurring him on at key moments in his own career. This terrifically life-affirming documentary from director Steve James – whose first feature, Hoop Dreams, Ebert championed – puts both sides of the argument, and unearths outtake footage which suggests that the Roger/Gene rivalry was no on-air contrivance.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |