Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold

I'm usually cautious around docs with a nepotistic bent to them from which you learn little in what basically turns out to be a valentine on the subject. Writer Director Nora Ephron's son did a hollow one on his mom while photog Annie Liebovitz's sister offered up a cringing love letter to her in American Masters. Maria Riva, daughter of Marlene Dietrich on the other hand has given a warts an all interview (available on You Tube) that cooked from start to finish that is well worth the watch for many reasons.

In Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold, her nephew actor Griffin Dunne may have wanted to approach the 80 plus year old Didion gingerly but the feisty 75 pounder was not about to have it showing the same determination in getting the story right as she did nearly half a century ago chronicling the American scene, especially the West Coast. With an incredibly keen sense of observation she displayed a grasp of an era with a clarity and incite while fellow contemporaries such as Thompson, Mailer and Breslin relied on hyperbole and slap happy verbosity.

Brought up on gloom, Donner Party bed time stories, it never seemed to be far from the stoic Didion, questioning what love was regarding her author husband that she partnered with professionally as well. Her adopted daughter found her remote. It is perhaps this distance that made her a superb reporter, memoirist. Always observing, never immersing. When spouse and daughter pass her true love kicks in and she writes a masterpiece around the husband, a play around the daughter.

Director Dunne has superior entry and makes the most of old newsreels along with an avalanche of family photos to give the doc a fine look including impressive visual backdrops, such as snow draped NYC, to her words. We find out Warren Beatty had the hots for her but he does step gently around her emaciated ( anorexia?) look as well obvious MS symptoms. But when queried about a scene 50 years earlier of witnessing a 5 year old on LSD she bluntly calls it "gold." Classic JD, honest and objective to the core. A rare quality to be found in today's world of blatantly bias journalism.

This film is a tribute to Ms. Didion, who was an amazing writer, and her writings were incredible that they were so easy to read and understand. Griffin Dunne does a fantastic job with this. I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed this film and how much it made me think and maybe tear up a bit. She was an amazing woman whose writings were concise and she was completely unafraid to relate the truth, no matter how unpleasant or downright ugly - or how painful. We have all lost loved ones, children sometimes and certainly spouses, and even innocence in the political and social systems - she really was able to convey the feelings - the reality of loosing major parts of your life and to still survive. This is a wonderful film, and encompasses more than just a tribute to a wonderful Aunt. She is an amazing person.

10/28/17. Oh my, what if Griffin Dunne didn't do this biopic when he did? Didion is now in her early 80s and it's amazing why there wasn't one done before this one. Such a celebrated writer and screenwriter finally got what she deserved. While well-known her private life was filled with tragedy, from the sudden death of her husband and early death of her only daughter at 39. Her book, The Year of Magical Thinking, is perhaps the best book ever about how those left behind deal with the death of a loved one. That book and this movie are worth catching.

It is always interesting to find persons/people who you may not know (I can only talk about myself) and discover what they are about. You may wonder why one would choose to watch a documentary about a person they don't even know, but that is not how I choose the movies I watch. If something sounds interesting, I go ahead and watch it.

And yes the woman in question is more than interesting and the documentary about her is finely crafted. I do think that you get more than a picture of the woman and maybe even find out things you didn't know (if you knew her from before unlike me)

A film that carefully cronicles one of the best writers of our century. I found it thought provoking and although sad, one would be remiss to not watch it. Especially helpful for younger generations who perhaps did not grow up reading her books, but can still appreciate their appeal.