Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time

A must see for any fan of Kurt Vonnegut. Unstick in Time is a labor of love that is over 30 years in the making. Countless hours of never before seen footage made up of not only past interviews and speeches of Vonnegut, but priceless family home films from the 1920's and 1930's make up the glue of what this documentary has to offer its audience. Among this footage includes testimonials from those who knew and loved him in the past, the present and the time to come. This story's message, moral, motivation and meaning are all important to the overall question the filmmaker answers as we are obligated to keep watching all the way to the final credits. A perfect poem to one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.

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.

Greetings again from the darkness. Sometimes the work really does speak for itself. Co-director and long-time Vonnegut friend Robert B Weide even admits the renowned author told him, "anything that is any good of mine is on a printed page". The strange thing here is that by the time it's over, we aren't sure if we've watched a documentary on the life of Kurt Vonnegut or one about Weide's friendship with and respect of the man.

Vonnegut, of course, is one of the great American writers of the 20th Century. Born and raised in Indianapolis, he wrote novels, short stories, and plays, and his work was noted for his clever humor and detail. His big breakthrough came in 1969 when "Slaughterhouse Five" became a best-seller, and his other works include "Cat's Cradle" (1963) and "Breakfast of Champions" (1973). As we see during the film, his live talks became 'must-attend' events due to his brilliance and ability to speak directly (and with caustic wit) about a world that he didn't always maintain the greatest hope for.

Weide and co-director Don Argott address Vonnegut's shortcomings as a family man, by allowing his daughters to tell Daddy stories in their own words. What's clear is that Vonnegut being captured by Germans during WWII at the Battle of the Bulge, and subsequently held at Dresden was a driving force not just in his writing, but in his approach to life. He survived the Allied bombing by taking cover in ... you guessed it ... a freezer in a slaughterhouse.

Archival footage of Vonnegut and interviews with his daughters and biographers, give us a pretty complete looks at his life. Oddly, it's Mr. Weide who seems to spend as much time on camera as anyone, leading us to wonder about his focus in what he terms a '40 year' project. Possibly the most interesting segment involves the various drafts of Vonnegut's most popular work ("Slaughterhouse Five" was his 6th novel), and the specific comparisons of the author to lead character Billy Pilgrim. Vonnegut passed away in 2007, and we have little doubt his response to that would be ... "So it goes."

I enjoyed this documentary which was 40 years in the making. I have read pretty much all of Vonnegut's works and obviously this focuses a lot on Slaughterhouse Five but shows everything from his early short stories and earliest novels such as Player Piano onwards. The other review complains about the producer (Weide - the other "half a lifetime" I mention) who is admittedly a bit self-indulgent.

But since his bits are a side-story of how a biographer "cronkler" became a friend of Kurt - it fits in. I look at it as Weide is James Boswell and Kurt is Samuel Johnson (albeit funnier). You get the occasional "Life of Boswell" mixed in. I enjoyed seeing Kurt's family past and present as it helps put things into perspective as his life and career progressed (or sometimes stalled). Also the location shots in Indianapolis and Barnstable, Cape Cod with Kurt or his kids were great. I personally got a kick out of seeing the stone building of his Saab dealership where he wrote "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater." I'd say it's a solid 9/10 for Kurt fans and I think entertaining enough of a show for those who may be unfamiliar with his writing.

While many are bothered by the interaction of the filmmaker in this film and initially, I too was unsure about it, I finally decided that the many years Weide spent making this film and spending time with Vonnegut made him a central character in his life and therefore he holds a space in this documentary just as Vonnegut's children do. It was a beautiful film and I really enjoyed it!