Joan Didion: il centro non reggerà

Writer Joan Didion's distant relatives crossed the frontier to the Promised Land (California), but not before traveling some stretch of the journey with the doomed Donner party, who separated from the Didions to cross uncharted terrain. Preparing for disaster is something Didion was taught at a young age, knew with certainty as an adult, and then maybe forgot about and had to learn again in 2003 when her adopted daughter, Quintana, became sick and was hospitalized just before Didion's husband, writer John Gregory Dunne, died of a heart attack. This stylishly-presented documentary on Didion's life, produced and directed by Didion's nephew, Griffin Dunne, promises to be a heady spread for Netflix and, indeed, we get a thorough blueprint of Joan Didion's long and winding journey. Tracing the author's path from University of California, Berkeley graduate to Vogue magazine writer in New York City in the 1950s, to author of her first novel, "Run, River" in 1963, to becoming Dunne's wife, to their move to Southern California in 1965 and adopting a baby, we get a sense of Didion's spirit as she speaks but nothing much in the way of her personality. What Griffin Dunne extracts from his subject in a recent interview is lovely frosting--listening to Joan and watching her expressive hands reaching out, pell-mell, in dramatic emphasis--but there isn't a substantial, emotional base underneath this. Vintage interview footage of Didion from cable shows and "60 Minutes" actually tell us more about Joan than what we're getting from Griffin Dunne. Interviews with friends and fellow writers add a dash of color, but no insight (actor Harrison Ford, Didion's carpenter in the early '70s, sits down just long enough to tell us how nice Dunne and Didion were to he and his family). Joan's path in life led her back to New York City, where she turned her 2005 book about grieving, "The Year of Magical Thinking", into a Broadway play starring Vanessa Redgrave. It helps to close the film on a warm note, though interested parties will learn far more about Didion just by reading one of her books--or, if pressed for time, her Wikipedia page. **1/2 from ****

I really appreciated this film because of the extensive amount of archival research it took to put this together. Full disclosure: I was not a huge Didion fan, even less so familiar with her work. But this was a fun and enlightening journey delving into nearly every facet of Didion's career and personal life. Although captivating it became a tad bit too prosaic defined by the B story diversions that would have presented better in brief, this just being my humble opinion of course. If you're a Didion fan this is a must see, obviously.

Confession: until I watched this documentary, I had never heard of and obviously therefore, never read, any of Joan Didion's novels. So what attracted me to watch this when it was suggested to me on Netflix? Well, the era that it covered, the fact that it said she is a literary icon, and the fact that she is Griffin Dunne's aunt and that he directed it (big fan of Griffin Dunne). The style, grace and beauty of the subject also intrigued me. Having finished watching it, I then watched the trailer here on IMDB and I am so glad that I didn't see the trailer first as it gives everything away and, even though you might guess at a few things along the way, it would most definitely have lessened my enjoyment of the story unfolding at the pace that the director/writer/producer would have liked me to.

This is a beautifully crafted piece of work. It has a gentleness and fragility about it that makes you want to whisper for the rest of the day. It was such a delight to be able to really focus on this film without the sensationalised over the top music screaming at me in short bursts, that is so prevalent now in programming. Thank you so much Griffin Dunne.

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)