Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am

This movie is composed of two - or three - parts of varying interest, at least to me.

The largest, and to me the most interesting, is composed of excerpts from various interviews with Morrison herself. It's not surprising that, master of language that she was, she chooses her words carefully and is a joy to listen to. She knows what she did well, and does not hesitate to say so. But she also has a wonderful sense of humor about herself. Very engaging.

The rest of this movie consists of other people talking about her and her work. When they are people who knew her, they often provide interesting context.

When some of them talked about her work, it sometimes got very exalted in a very abstract way. That I found much less interesting. The movie is 2 hours long, and if there were any cutting to be done, it would be there.

I have only a few very minor caveats.

1. There are a fair number of talking heads. We see some often, others just once or twice. But we only see their name and role the first time they appear. For the ones I knew already, like Oprah Winfrey and Angela Davis, that was not a problem. For the others, it was.

2. The editor, Johanna Giebelhaus, had obviously gone to the Ken Burns school of documentary editing, which teaches that no image can be allowed to remain still for more than a few seconds. That's not a problem with photos: she pans up or down them in the best Burns style. But she can't leave the talking heads alone either. Sometimes she switches from one perspective to another, which is fine. But most often, she jumps in or out, in quick jerky steps. Once or twice would have been alright for variety. But she does it over and over for two hours, and that annoyed me.

But, as I said, those are both very small caveats.

This movie is certainly worth seeing. I learned a lot from it.

I loved this documentary! It left me feeling inspired and empowered. I have read a few of Ms. Morrison's books. They were complicated, yet I could not put them down. Her books are an insight to the inner workings of her mind: complicated, intense and most of all brilliant!

I was grateful for the opportunity to be given a personal look to the insight of this brilliant, and thoughtful scholar. It makes we want to go out and buy all of her books and reexamine them through a deeper lens.

I went to see this just yesterday, a week after Toni Morrison passed away. I was moved to tears. What a wonderful tribute and how fortunate we are that this film was done before her death. It's a really well done look at her life and work. I found the interviews with other people quite moving and informative and the chance to hear her talk about her work was truly awesome. I can only imagine what a great professor she must have been. I already was planning to reread some or all of her work. This film definitely cemented that decision. If you have any interest at all in American Literature this film is a must see.

This stunning documentary, "Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am" (2019) directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. Its two hours full of tribute to Morrison by iconic literary figures from Sonia Sanchez to media celebrities like Oprah Winfrey.

It celebrates greatness as a written language about the human experience, illustrated by a selection of Black creativity from artists such as Kara Walker to Kerry James Marshall. It reminds the viewer of America's ties to human slavery through the backdrop stories (historic references to Black slavery) of what inspired Morrison to write great novels from "Bluest Eyes" to "Beloved".

Greenfield-Sanders explores her hometown of Lorain, Ohio; Morrison's childhood experience of an ethnic diverse perception of America. Not using sensational nor romantic devices, Morrison 's story is told as her literary works, as an everyday experience. It topped with a dash of sobriety leaving the viewer to hear and see more.

This production also give a honest telling of Morrison's personal life towards her professional as well as artistic accomplishments. Full of archival interviews with the author from different decades of her life. It creates a myriad, but almost a kaleidoscope effect in viewing her various stages as a single mother, professional editor, literary agent to a visionary!

This is the first review I've ever written, and likely will ever write, that is completely biased, holding a rating that is predicated solely on the level of admiration, love, and gratitude that I hold for the artist. I am thankful to those who documented the pieces of Toni Morrison so brilliantly. Regardless, my rating of 10 goes to Toni, because she was who she was, and I'm not ashamed of it.