Life Itself - A Vida de Roger Ebert

I grew up with Roger Ebert's movie reviews. I first read one of his pieces in high school and have been hooked ever since. I would usually consult him before deciding to watch a particular movie, especially if the IMDb rating was not very high: his judgment would be the tie break that would convince me – or not – to invest those 2-3 hours in a movie. Afterwards, I would tuck into bed and slowly and solemnly read his opinion, often forcing my wife to listen on.

What was so special about his reviews? What set him apart from the plethora of reviewers that compete for our attention on "Rotten Tomatoes" or "Metacritic"? For me it was the way he drew parallels between movies and real life. He was not judging a movie on its purely artistic or aesthetic merit; he stayed clear of high-sounding phrases and abstruse concepts. He didn't need and didn't want to show off his cinematic culture or talk condescendingly to his reader. On the contrary, his was an honest, almost heart- to-heart talk, in which he told us how he empathized with the characters, how he was drawn in by the plot, what details about the direction, the cinematography, the acting, the soundtrack had struck a particular chord with him.

But most importantly, he had this uncanny ability to put the movie in the context of "Life itself", to use the title of his book and of the recent documentary about his life. He extracted meaning from virtually every movie; a movie reviewed by Ebert wasn't just a movie, it became a vehicle for exploring our deepest emotions, aspirations, frustrations; a way of redefining our common humanity. After reading an Ebert review, I usually felt a strong connection with the man, because he had opened up to me, he wasn't lecturing me or forcing his interpretation on me.

In fact, he seemed to always want to underline, explicitly or implicitly, that the review was all about how the movie had resonated with HIM. He never pretended that movies weren't what they are: an entirely subjective experience. There are as many reviews as there are persons and, paradoxically, the more personal the review, the more interesting it gets. This is why I liked his reviews even when I didn't agree with them, even if I didn't feel the same emotions he experienced during the picture. After reading a review that I didn't agree with, I even took particular pride in holding a different point of view. Most professional reviewers make you feel stupid if you don't share their strong opinion: if you don't like a movie that they praised, then you are uncultured and unsophisticated; if you loved a movie they torpedoed, you are superficial and have bad taste… Ebert never made you feel that way; on the contrary, you always felt on a level plain.

The documentary "Life Itself", which touches on many aspects of Ebert's life and work, is unmissable for any fan. I would've preferred a more in-depth coverage of his reviews, his relationship with movies, especially the one's that changed his life. In my opinion, director Steve James dwells excessively on Ebert's terminal illness – close-ups of his chin-less face are omnipresent – and on his relationship with his wife and with his television partner Gene Siskel (which takes up an outsize portion of the documentary). For me, Ebert is all about his reviews, and to have given them so little space is a pity.

Even so, I would recommend spending two hours with "Life Itself", even if you've never read an Ebert review: it will introduce you to one of the best movie critics of all time, who has written reviews for half the history of motion pictures and touched the lives of thousands of people – including mine – guiding them through an exciting journey of discovery and self-discovery.

I started watching this and almost could not continue. I found the pictures of Roger after his surgery to be quite upsetting. Seeing his lower jaw hanging open with no teeth, or even a lower jaw was disturbing but it was worth it getting past that.

This is another great movie that many people have not seen or even heard of, a hidden gem. It tells the amazing story of Roger's life, his successes, his demons, his challenging relationship with Gene Siskel and his amazing wife who he married later in life. The scenes with his wife and grandchildren are especially touching. This is a film of great joy and hope. Life is tough, but love will help us through.

Life Itself (2014)

**** (out of 4)

I first discovered Siskel and Ebert by accidentally waking up early one morning and turning the television on to see two guys getting into a heated debate over a movie called DEAD AGAIN. It's funny but it's a moment in my life that I'll never forget because it opened my eyes to other movie lovers and the show would also introduce me to all sorts of movies that weren't playing at my small town theater. LIFE ITSELF, based on the book of the same name, covers the life and career of film critic Roger Ebert who is of course best known for his television show with Gene Siskel. The book was a wonderful read and especially for fans of Ebert but director Steve James does an extremely good job at bringing it to the screen even if we really don't see anything here that we didn't read in the book.

With that said, there's no question that the film is highly entertaining and especially when it deals with the rather love-hate relationship between Ebert and Siskel. There's no doubt that these moments are the highlight of the film as we get to see some classic clips of the two on their show but also some memorable outtakes as well as their appearances on talk shows, including an intense one on Carson where Ebert rips Chevy Chase who is sitting right there. The film also covers Ebert's personal life where we get interviews with the likes of his wife as well as Siskel's widow. Filmmakers Werner Herzog and Martin Scorsese are also on hand and discuss their relationship with Ebert. Of course, the hardest part to watch about this film are the scenes involving Ebert in the hospital where we see how much pain he was in towards the end of his life. These scenes really are hard to watch but at the same time it leaves you in amazement that he was able to continue writing on his blog at such a high level.

LIFE ITSELF has some flaws including the structure of the story but I doubt any fans of the critic are going to be disappointed. I think the 115-minute running time was fine for a general release but it seems like there's probably a lot more that could have been included.

As someone who literally grew up at the movies--my mother took me to anything and everything from my infancy right through my early childhood, until I was old enough to go by myself--my love for and fascination with film is deeply entrenched in my way of thinking, my way of writing, my way of viewing life. And Roger Ebert (with Gene Siskel) was a vital discovery, someone whose opinions were always worth hearing (or reading); someone whose love for film and his way of thinking about it seemed to legitimize my lifelong instinct to appraise and quantify the value of what I was being shown on the big screen. It was all right to question things, or to accept the questionable.

I was staying at my favorite hotel in London some years ago (the mid 80s, as I recall) with a writer friend from Oslo (another lover of film and theater). She and I were having a late-night post-theater meal in the lounge when Roger came bustling through on the way to his room. I nearly levitated from my seat at the sight of him, and after he'd passed from view, I tried, a bit deliriously, to explain to my friend who this man was, and his importance to the world of film. She was awe-struck when I spoke of the format of the show, of two men agreeing or disagreeing over forthcoming films. There was nothing like it anywhere outside of the U.S.

As I watched this documentary, I kept remembering that evening at Brown's Hotel way back then, thinking that Roger would have given this film a wholehearted thumbs up. It is wonderfully coherent, and offers insights into the man, into his extraordinary talents and his tremendous enthusiasm, not just for film but for life and the people he loved. It's not hard to understand how difficult it was for his remarkable wife Chaz to let him go.

Like all good films, it left me sated but sad, missing those years of the wonderful weekly excitement of sitting down with my daughter (now also a lifelong film buff) to watch Sneak Previews and, subsequently, At The Movies. This is a film *not* to be missed. It succeeds on every level.

I guess there's just not much to say about this except that it's bloody brilliant. I feel like so many biographical documentaries might have wanted to talk about the person's entire life, and go through it all. Not this one, and because of it, it never feels bogged down by so much material. It flows through pretty easily and seamlessly, the editing isn't too fast-paced but instead lingers on Ebert's more philosophical viewpoints in his book. It's definitely incredibly sad and beautiful, probably the saddest documentary since Dear Zachary. This is destined to be a crowd-pleaser, as it should be. I strongly recommend it to anyone of any age.