Hubert Selby Jr: It/ll Be Better Tomorrow

I saw this wonderful film last night at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. I have often wished I had met Cubby Selby in person - the directors, Kenneth Shiffrin and Michael W. Dean, did more than deliver a film - they create an outlet for us all to spend a moment with this unsung artist.

The insight this movie gives into the world of Cubby Selby is pretty astonishing. I certainly wasn't expecting to be handed keys to his creative process while simultaneously being uplifted by the journey of this absolute spiritual being who was unapologetically human.

Cause for both tears and laughter... this film will touch your heart.

I had read "Last Exit to Brooklyn" and had seen the film of "Requiem For A Dream" so I was familiar with Hubert Selby Jr., in fact a fan. Being a writer myself, I'm an obvious audience for this film and therefore a critical one as well.

I was astonished by the information this film concisely conveyed about 'Cubby' Selby's life and work, especially what made him write and how he got his eccentric aesthetic. The information comes at us in an entertaining and loving fashion via a "Rogues Gallery" of noted literary figures and filmmakers and a skillful narration by Robert Downey Jr.

I have not seen a film, narrative or documentary, that explores the writers craft and experience as intimately as this film does. I really like Hubert Selby Jr. and I feel I truly know something about the man and the artist now. I highly recommend this documentary to anyone who writes or creates art of any type or has ever aspired to do so.

Hubert Selby Jr: It/ll be Better Tomorrow touched me, taught me, revealed to me a man through the eyes of those who knew him, maybe loved him, but were most certainly enriched by him. The portrait they paint is not always pretty, often tragic, but the soul of the man shines throughout.

Cubby's story is not a triumph, but it is exceedingly human and real. An exploration of the adversities that we all face, to greater and lesser degree, how they can bring us to swamp-crawling despair of self-destruction, yet be redeemed by the pure and simple will to overcome. Cubby persevered, and in that found glory over his darkness and demons. The devils still remain, but Cubby found the way to harness them, to drive them, not be driven by them.

Art should be like a stone, thrown in a pond, creating ripples reaching further and further outward, disturbing, disrupting the placid quiet. This film shows Cubby as a boulder among pebbles.

Just wanted to give a shoutout to the review titled; "Lowlife outsiders and their wannabe acolytes". Cannot tell if satire or serious, but it hardly matters either way. Writing off everyone involved with the documentary as "perverted communist junkies" is not only hilarious, but it borders on the kinda genius you tend to see in a Dr Strangelove or Monty Python (or Hubert Selby) character.

This film is a soulful, compassionate, funny, inspiring fly-on-the-wall look right into the heart and soul of one of the great, unsung minds of American letters. One of those movies where you come out wanting to run home and get right to work making the world a better, smarter place. Kenneth Shiffrin and Michael W. Dean show their love for their subject with great passion and understanding and uncanny skill in this impressive, no-budget directorial effort. We need more of this kind of insightful, passionate film-making in today's take the money and dumb-em- down, shoot-em-up medium.

-- Jonathan Shaw (Author of 'Savage Grace' and 'Scabvendor: Confessions of a Tattoo Artist')