campsparrow

To all involved, thank you for this film. I was amused, entertained, engaged, riveted. The opening scene set the mood with an immediate dark nod to David Lynch, that soon escalated into graphic violence. I did not look away as I normally would but I really wanted to know what happens next and why. It turned out to be a rather straightforward plot that led to an expose of political hyporcrisy. It was funny and I found myself laughing out loud often. It was at times violent and frightening. The film scenes portrayed lesbian eroticism and sex in a realistic way as opposed to "lesbian" pornography designed for the male gaze. Inside as well as outside of the "bedroom" "Drive-Away Dolls" also explores different facets of female relationships as friends and lovers.

The movie opens as if Vonnegut had written it: time-tripping, past, present, "future" tenses. It unfolds with awareness and self-consciousness of the process of making the documentary, and with living a deliberate existence. We watch as Vonnegut steers his direction, with the enthusiastic support of his wife Jane, from a life in the corporate world to evolving as a philosophical novelist. The fact that Vonnegut welcomed Director Robert B. Weide into his personal life strums on the heart strings of any human being who has been a follower, a fan, or a groupie of a beloved artist. Every moment of this film is emotional, poignant, and profoundly underscored by filmed statements, answering machine messages, and written text declarations made by Vonnegut himself.

This documentary stands on its own as a well-considered and crafted oeuvre. The art of the film is created and observed in a linear-time fashion. The body of "Unstuck in Time" is focused on Vonnegut's writings, work, life, challenges, lectures, and lends visual exposures to his graphic illustrations. It is highlighted with interviews with family and friends, and footage from reels of 16 mm family films. Weide includes his own reflections on the documentary's process, his own personal life (and "distractions") during the long duration of making the movie, and on his close relationship with Vonnegut.

I wasn't left feeling as if I had any more questions about Vonnegut's biography; I feel that Weide has covered all the factual information very neatly in a 2 hour 7 minute package. As the credits rolled, I was wiping away tears from missing Kurt more than ever, full of thanks for his influence on me.