Life Itself (2014)

LIFE ITSELF  (2014)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Steve James
The only time I saw Roger Ebert in person was around 1980 at the Majestic Theater in Madison. He was there to show some film clips and do a Q&A about movies, and I remember that he struck me as kind of arrogant, which was how he usually came across in those TV shows he did with Gene Siskel. I don't know to what extent he was really like that, but it didn't appear to be an act. So it was interesting to see how much genuine affection he attracted in the time leading up to his death, and the unprecedented amount of grief (for a film critic!) that followed his passing last year. Of course, Ebert was no ordinary film critic. He was easily the most widely recognized movie reviewer in the world, and arguably the best writer who ever tried to make sense of what he saw in those images flashing across the screen. This documentary tracks Ebert and his lifelong passion for journalism from Urbana, Illinois, where as a kid he wrote, published and delivered his own neighborhood newspaper, through his Pulitzer Prize-winning work for the Chicago Sun-Times, his combative love-hate relationship with Siskel, his drinking and sobriety, his marriage (at 50) to the love of his life, Chaz, and, painfully, his heroic (and very public) battle with cancer. There might be lives that can be reduced to two hours of screen time. Ebert's was not one of them. But the access James had to Roger and Chaz toward the end makes the movie as indispensable as it is, sometimes, hard to watch. Ebert might've been an asshole (Siskel thought so), but you can see, too, why so many people loved the guy, and if you don't come away from this admiring his courage, you must be living on the moon. It's not often you see Martin Scorsese at a loss for words, choking up. It happens when he's talking about Ebert in this, and that's saying something.