6/20/2023 0 Comments Life Itself by Roger Ebert![]() ![]() Says director James, “He was a serious journalist. Not ones that are puff pieces or the ones that are just glossed-over filmmaking.” The films that affected him so much over the years were the ones that you really strip bare and see what really makes someone tick. “If you’re not going to be candid and transparent and allow full access, it’s not worth doing. ![]() It would be understandable for him to express reticence in allowing access to such candid moments, but it’s an experience Roger specifically asked director Steve James to document.Ĭhaz Ebert-who married Roger in 1992 and is central to the film-understands the inclination. It’s an ordeal that cost him the entirety of his lower jaw and, with it, his ability to speak, leaving a disfigurement so jarring that he would avoid his own reflection. Life Itself begins with its subject in a hospital bed, near the end of a long, trying bout with throat cancer. We aren’t presented with images of him shaking hands with Fellini, or receiving his Pulitzer, or sitting alongside longtime pal Gene Siskel. In documenting the life of Roger Ebert, Life Itself leads with an uncommon fade-in on the legendary film critic. ![]()
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