Life Itself

“Life gets harder as you near the summit” (fortune cookie opened by me immediately after watching Life Itself).

The above statement certainly may apply to Roger Ebert, who was the most prominent voice of American film criticism for many years.  Any film fan born before 2000 should know Ebert’s name and though he may at some point be forgotten every podcast and/or show that uses a two reviewer format can trace its origins to him.  Ebert, for those not in the know, was half of a two man team who from 1975 to 1999 had a show called Siskel and Ebert At The Movies, along with a few other titles.  The half hour show aired in syndication weekly and always had the two undistinguished looking men who were newspaper critics briefly debating five films or so that had come out that week.  Each critic would rate the film thumbs up or down.  Since both men had very different tastes two thumbs up generally meant the film was a can’t miss for audiences (although they did give two thumbs up to Speed 2).

I discovered the show as a teenager and watched it regularly, usually empathizing more with Ebert, seemed the more reasonable of the two, although the more combative Siskel brought out the worst in Ebert.  I began asking for Ebert’s annual review books for Christmas each year.  Whenever I opened the book it was the last anyone would hear from me for a few hours because I would not be able to put it down.  The first year I received the book was when my relationship with Ebert’s writing began, as I saw his ability to break down a film in an extremely relatable way, a rare gift for a writer.

Rogerebert.com became a nearly daily stop for me several years ago.  I could spend an hour easily reading his blog and every time a new film came out I could not wait to read Ebert’s take on it.  A few years ago I interacted with him briefly in discussing the film Cast Away.  I was very excited to receive a brief but thoughtful response.

Gene Siskel died in 1999 but the show continued.  Ebert recruited another critic named Richard Roeper and the two hosted the show for several years until Ebert lost part of his jaw and his ability to speak after his carotid artery burst while he was about the leave the hospital following one of many cancer surgeries.  Ebert, at this point disfigured with a hole in his chin, bravely continued to appear in public, often wearing something close to what was left of his chin to avoid making people uncomfortable.  He lived almost seven years without a voice (and was probably too old to learn sign language) but communicated through his computer, often using a text to speech program.  Ebert died on April 3, 2013 at age 70, the day after writing his last blog post “A Leave of Presence”.  When I learned he died my first thought, was “No, yesterday he said he’d still be around!”

Life Itself, made by Steve James, who directed Hoop Dreams, both Siskel and Ebert’s favorite film of 1994, takes us through Ebert’s life and shows us recollections of his friends, his marriage, his complicated but close relationship with Siskel, moments in the hospital where the hole in his chin is very obvious, and the chin itself hangs loosely, and effectively shares his life with us.  Some of the film’s best moments are the unexpected ones, such as when Martin Scorsese, who always projects an energetic  joie de vivre, especially when talking about film, emotionally recalls a dark moment in his life that Siskel and Ebert saved him from(probably without knowing at the time).   Another key moment is Ebert’s decision to be open with his disease.  This decision was in stark contrast to Siskel who kept his brain cancer a secret to such a degree that when he died I, along with many others, had no idea he was sick.

Chaz, Ebert’s wife, who he married when at age 50http://www.rogerebert.com/chazs-blog/for-roger-six-months-later, reminds me of Christopher Reeve’s wife, Dana,  an extremely positive and sunny woman who anyone, disabled or not, would want to fight to live alongside.  Chaz has been very open in her grieving since Ebert’s passing and still holds his Ebertfest event annually and runs his website.  One of the late scenes in the film shows Chaz and Ebert coming home to their brownstone on the Chicago North Side from one of his last hospital stays on Valentine’s Day about six weeks before he passed.  The two argue a bit over the logistics of getting up the stairs but when they get to the top Chaz has a special heart up for him on the living room wall that apparently is still there.

Oddly the film, which started production while Ebert was still alive (his cancer returned only a few months before he passed) makes no mention of the show he and Chaz produced in 2011, Ebert Presents At The Movies, with two younger critics following much the same format at the Siskel and Ebert show.  It only lasted a year, I think due to lack of sponsorship, but was interesting and showed Ebert’s dedication to the two person review format.

I feel Life Itself is essential viewing for any film fan who is interested in criticism.  Film is a modern form of art and Ebert helped legitimize that by so effectively communicating film’s beauty and power to so many people through his words.   I can check his website for a review of any new film but Ebert’s reviews are only his old ones.  Fortunately there is plenty there.  Also, anytime I want to visit with him and Siskel they are on youtube. ****