Spielberg

"Spielberg" is an HBO-produced documentary by documentarian Susan Lacy. You'll never guess who the subject is?!

Steven Spielberg is a product of one of the most surprising revolutions in Hollywood in the late 70's: one of a set of wunderkind directors alongside such luminaries as George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, John Milius, Brian De Palma and Martin Scorcese. These men (only men, it should be noted!) were ready to cock a snook at Hollywood's traditional studio system to break rules (case in point, Star Wars' lack of opening credits) and move cinema into the format that would last to this day.

As this excellent documentary makes clear, Spielberg was one of the least rebellious of the movie-brats. Even though (astoundingly) he blagged himself a production office at Universal (after hiding during the Tram Tour toilet stop!), his path to the top was through hard graft on multiple Universal TV shows, after recognition of his talents by Universal exec Sidney Sheinberg who speaks in the film.

Before we get to that stage of his life, we cover his childhood back-story as a reluctant Jew living in a non-Jewish neighbourhood, driven to fill his time with tormenting his sisters and movie-making with a Super 8 camera. Scenes of home videos, photos and his early attempts at special effects are all fascinating. The impact of his Bohemian mother Leah and workaholic father Arnold, and particularly the very surprising relationship breakdown that happened between them, go a long way to explain the constant return to 'father issues' in many of his films such as "E.T.", "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "Hook" and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade".

The majority of the film though settles down into a roughly chronological review of the highlights of his movie career, with particular emphasis justly being placed on some of the key watershed moments in that career. Most of his films get at least a mention, but "Jaws", "E.T.", "Schindler's List", "The Color Purple", "Jurassic Park", "Munich" and "Empire of the Sun" get more focus. It is such a wonderful trip down my cinematic memory lane. I also forget just what cinematic majesty and craftsmanship is present in these films: I just hope that at some point this will get a Blu-Ray or DVD release so it can be properly appreciated (rather than viewing it on a tiny airplane screen which is how I watched this): the combination of film clips in here is breathtaking.

As might be expected for a documentary about the great director, there is plenty of 'behind the camera' footage on show, some of which is fascinating. Spielberg could always get the very best performances out of the youngsters on set, from Cary Guffey ("Toys!!") in "Close Encounters" to a heartbreaking scene where he reduces the young Drew Barrymore to howls of emotion in "E.T.". A master at work.

All of the movie scenes are accompanied by new interview footage from Spielberg himself, as well as warm platitudes from many of the luminaries he has worked with in the past. Directors involved include many of the the directors referenced above, as well as those modern directors influenced by him such as J.J. Abrams; his go-to cinematographers Vilmos Zsigmond and Janusz Kaminski; his 'go-to' composer John Williams; and stars including his go-to 'everyman' Richard Dreyfuss, Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Bob Balaban, Tom Hanks, Opray Winfrey, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christian Bale, Dustin Hoffman and James Brolin. Some of these comments are useful and insightful; some are just fairly meaningless sound bites that add nothing to the film. What all the comments are though is almost all uniformly positive.

And that's my only criticism of the film. Like me, Susan Lacy is clearly a big fan. It is probably quite hard to find anyone who isn't.... but perhaps Ms Lacy should have tried a bit harder! There is only limited focus on his big comedy flop of 1979, "1941", and no mention at all of his lowest WW grossing film "Always". And there are only a few contributors - notably film critic Janet Maslin - who are willing to stick their head above the parapet and prod into Spielberg's weaknesses; ostensibly his tendency to veer to the sentimental and away from harder issues: the omitted "Color Purple" 'mirror scene' being a case in point.

This is a recommended watch for Spielberg fans. On the eve of the launch of his latest - "Ready Player One", a film that I am personally dubious about from the trailer - it's a great insight into the life and works of the great man. It could though have cut a slightly harder and more critical edge.

With Spielberg, we have another profile of yet another hugely influential American filmmaker on the heels of De Palma and By Sidney Lumet. And... when it's this filmmaker and this story and this group of films, I don't think for at least some of them (yes, even Jaws and lessor known ones like Empire of the Sun) enough can be spoken about them. It takes often a miracle for a movie to come out good let alone great, and Steven Spielberg has at least nine or ten masterpieces to his name.

I'm glad this one on Spielberg via Susan Lacy (a veteran go-to for American Masters docs) goes the full route on the career and the man in as much depth as possible. Though it lacks much about Hook, Lost World and Always (the latter's not here at all, the former is mentioned for five seconds as an example of 'sometimes he has failed'), I think I need what is presented here as the man's own words on his work, and his colleagues, AND especially the critical community, from Hoberman to AO Scott. You actually get a sense of not only Spielberg's growth or... No, wait, growth is the wrong word since he was already doing what he did so well in 74 and 74 & 75 and even Duel (that shot of the truck going off the bridge is a gorgeous monster movie moment in all cinema), more like a maturity and an expanding sense of what a movie can be. He has his complexities - who else can have Jurassic Park and Munich in his resume - but the critics point that out along with the objective fact that he is to film the major force in Hollywood in the past 45 years.

But it would be one thing if it is all "its the greatest guy ever" etc. This shows that Spielberg hasn't always known what to do on every film; seeing him making Schindlers List and Saving Private Ryan, his two Oscar wins, one gets the sense he had to figure out what to do day to day, and yet that also came out of many years of *doing* it, of understanding and getting even deeper than he already was. This doc does a great job is giving to the audience, whether they've known this about Spielberg before or not, that making ET and Schindler's List were no more or less exceptional efforts on what humanity is all about in all of its highs and lows, its just that an audience will take Nazis more seriously than aliens.

Or... Who knows? But through every anecdote and story from Spielberg, his sisters and parents, his fellow (now elder) "movie brats" who were as Lucas describes their version of Paris in the 1920s (and I think hes right), there's a full portrait of everything with this man. And that's what is the same and yet done unique unto itself as the De Palma and Lumet films. It's not *too* glossed over about what hes been in life (as someone admits about him, "hes a nerd. A lovable nerd, but still a nerd") and yet it cant help but be inspiring and I hope will be an inspiration for future filmmakers who didn't live through seeing Jurassic Park or Ryan or Minority Report or even Lincoln (one of those films that is still somehow underrated despite being a commercial and critical hit) in a first run. It didn't all come out of nowhere ultimately; the message that one comes away with is that passion and inspiration is crucial, but hard work and not showing fear in the process (though one may have it) is key.

While I understand why the filmmaker might feel the need to address criticism leveled at Spielberg and his work (too populist, overly sentimental, etc), she takes a far too direct approach by voicing through interviews precisely why the viewer should dismiss those and see Spielberg through the same lens she does. The recent documentary DePalma, made about one of Spielberg's fellow "movie brats," did a brilliant job of asking that filmmaker, Brian DePalma, to open up about the work, major themes and controversies, and left the viewer to draw conclusions for themselves. Watching this last night, I found myself wishing the documentary itself hadn't decided itself to become so sentimental, only explaining the merits of Spielberg's oeuvre.

Don't get me wrong, Spielberg certainly is one of the most (if not THE most) influential players in the film industry and the film does a great job of showing how he became so successful, but the most interesting segments involve discussion of the craft behind iconic films. For Jaws, the discussion of how a low budget helped to build suspense is as rewarding as the anecdotes about Spielberg's process with actors on the set of Schindler's List. With a running time of 2.5 hours, not every film gets equal treatment, but revealing details of his process abound for the cinema buff.

All in all, worth a look, but don't be afraid to make up your own mind.

This HBO documentary, directed by Susan Lacy, at nearly two and a half hours long , is really an ode to one of the master filmmakers of all time Steven Spielberg.

For movie buffs, like myself, the film can be mind boggling as the incredible list of Spielberg movies over the decades is documented. He will give his personal view of what went into each movie, and there are many behind-the-scenes details offered by his fellow artists and collaborators.

As other reviewers have noted, the praise heaped upon him in the doc can get to be overdone as the film progresses. Also, I would have liked to have heard what Spielberg thought of the many actors who, over the years, helped make his films so special, but there's virtually none of that here.

Overall though, to get to relive some of these great movies and to get lots of insight into what makes this genius of the cinema tick, was certainly worth the price of admission for me.

Spielberg (2017)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

This documentary clocks in at just under two and a half hours and has Steven Spielberg talking about his time in Hollywood as well as some personal stories about his family and how this shaped the movies that he would make. Not only do we get interviews with Spielberg himself but we also hear from his parents, his sisters as well as co-workers and friends including Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Richard Dreyfuss, John Williams, Janet Maslin, Sid Sheinberg and various others.

For the most part I thought this was a very good documentary that was put together very well. The film does a very good job at going over Spielberg's career as well as the personal stories that helped shape them. This includes stories about his parents divorce, the fifteen-years he and his father struggled to have a relationship as well as him becoming a father. All of these stories are told in such a good way that it helps when we then get to the movies because it brings some good insight.

The film discussion is certainly the highlight of the series as the director gets to reflect on his career, the films he's proud of and a few moments where he wasn't as happy. Of course, a lot of the lesser films are pretty much overlooked 1941 gets a quick twenty-second comment whereas HOOK, THE LOST WORLD and ALWAYS aren't even mentioned. We do get some terrific stories about JAWS, DUEL and what it was like for a twenty-year-old to try and direct someone like Joan Crawford.

Fans of the director are certainly going to enjoy this documentary and especially since he shares some good stories about their production as well as things that were going on behind-the-scenes.