Tagarchief: Cannes

Life Itself: The Life and Times of Roger Ebert

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld


“I was born inside the movie of my life… I don’t know how I got into the movie, but it continues to entertain me.”
― Roger Ebert

The career of Roger Ebert (1942 – 2013), probably the most famous mainstream film critic of all time, started as a sport writer at a newspaper. “I can write. I just always could”, he said about his early career. He wasn’t exaggerating. His talent was noted and on 21 he already had a column in the local newspaper in Illinois.

He moved to Chicago, got hired directly by The Chicago Sun Times and when their film critic retired, they gave him the job. He would stay in this job until his death in 2013. When he started his job in 1967, he was the youngest film critic in America. One of his early reviews was for Bonnie and Clyde, which was released in that year. He called it “a milestone in the history of American movies, a work of truth and brilliance” and awarded it four out of four stars.

Colleagues describe Ebert as ‘fast and furious’. He could produce a thought-out review in 30 minutes. He is the only film critic to win a Pulitzer price. His formula: producing 6 film reviews a week. During his career, he viewed 10.000 movies and reviewed 6.000 of them. From my personal experience, I can say this is a lot.

In his later life, Ebert got cancer of the thyroid and salivary glands and in 2006 his lower jaw was removed. In the documentary Life Itself, the renowned film critic looks back on his life.

Ebert saw films as ‘empathy machines’. They have the power to transport us to different times and places, and place us in the shoes of all sorts of characters. Early in his career, he would drink a lot and develop a major alcohol problem. He checked in AA in August 1997 and stayed sober till his death.

Another notable fact about his early career was he co-wrote the screenplay for Russ Meyer’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. What attracted him to Russ Meyer movies? the documentary maker Steve James asks an interviewee. “Boobs”, is the simple answer.

Ebert had a lot to say about films. He would also do live performances in which he would analyse classics like Vertigo and In Cold Blood frame by frame. “He had something interesting to say about every frame”, a friend observes.

He could certainly be critical, but in a kind way, says Martin Scorsese. Ebert reviewed his first film Who’s That Knocking On My Door and promised he would become the American Fellini. He turned out to be right. Many unknown filmmakers loved Ebert; he could lift them – and their films – out of obscurity.

Ebert became really famous when he was coupled to other Chicago critic Gene Siskel for a TV show. The two were enemies at first, but they developed a great dynamic with furious discussions about the movies they loved/hated. For example, Ebert loved Scarface and Siskel hated it and they had a great discussion. The other way around: Ebert said Full Metal Jacket was “not original, and not a masterpiece” and Siskel thought it “was very original and close to a masterpiece.”

The cities New York and L.A. refused to air the program for a long time, because the reviewers were from Chicago. But eventually gave in and their programme At The Movies became a nationwide success; the two thumbs up or down they pioneered could make or break a movie…

A large segment of the documentary focuses on the Cannes Film Festival, which Ebert frequently attended and later wrote a book about. During the festival, he also pioneered early internet use by phoning in daily reviews for his newspaper. Before his passing, he built a cutting-edge website where his entire body of work is archived. It remains a vital resource for film information.

So why is the documentary, which was based on his autobiography, named ‘Life Itself’? A former colleague from the newspaper explains that Ebert was the lead star and director of the movie that was his life. And quite the movie it turned out to be.

12 Roger Ebert Reviews with Surprising Ratings
On IMDb, each classic film from Ebert’s era features a dedicated reviews page where critics contribute. Roger Ebert consistently ranks as the top reviewer for these movies, with each of his reviews including a rating from one to four stars. But which of his ratings stand out as the most unexpected?

1.) Blue Velvet –– 1 out of 4
2.) The Usual Suspects –– 1,5 out of 4
3.) A Clockwork Orange –– 2 out of 4
4.) Die Hard –– 2 out of 4
5.) Fight Club –– 2 out of 4
6.) Full Metal Jacket –– 2,5 out of 4
7.) Once Upon a Time in the West –– 2,5 out of 4
8.) Reservoir Dogs –– 2,5 out of 4
9.) Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace –– 3,5 out of 4
10.) Gates of Heaven –– 4 out of 4
11.) Knowing –– 4 out of 4
12.) Man Push Cart –– 4 out of 4

QT8: The First Eight

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

I was 13 years old when I saw the video Reservoir Dogs at my local video store. There were – for me at the time – not many familiar actors in it. But the cover looked pretty cool with guys in suits with guns. Plus there was a lot of praise on it from critics, so I decided to give it a shot. I had no idea what to expect, but Jesus Christ was it a good movie! Ridiculously great filmmaking. One of the best movies I had seen at that point and to this day still.

It is funny to hear all these actors in the documentary QT8: The First Eight basically relate to the exact same experience. Tim Roth, shown while being carried in the warehouse by Harvey Keitel, remembers talking to Keitel about what they had just shot and saying: “Man, this is going to be a really great movie!” Keitel agreed.

Reservoir Dogs premiered on Cannes in 1992, very prestigious for a debut, and it was a great success. Everybody wanted to meet Quentin there and he became a movie making star overnight. Everybody said: “Can you believe this guy? He can write and direct and it’s sensational stuff.”

For a long time I was jealous of Tarantino. And when I watch this documentary I still am. I mean, wouldn’t it be something to be able to write screenplays like this guy? And this is also a shared emotion by many people interviewed for this doc. Talent like this is rare. Many people, including me, tried to write scripts like him. But to no avail.

His first screenplays – True Romance and Natural Born Killers – he had to sell to pay the rent. True Romance was originally told in non-chronological order Tarantino-style. Oh and the pop culture loving Clarence, basically Quentin’s alter ego – died at the end. Luckily Tony Scott changed that. At least I for one liked the happy ending.

Tarantino wanted to become a director, so he wrote a script that he could do on a low budget: Reservoir Dogs. Harvey Weinstein distributed the film. After that everybody in Hollywood wanted to work with him, but the Weinstein’s got to produce all his movies up until The Hateful Eight. Then the scandal broke out, and Tarantino – who according to Michael Madsen had known about Weinstein’s misconduct for some time (read Tarantino’s confession-story here) – switched to Sony for his ninth movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

And this Weinstein-business is the only major stain on Tarantino’s career. That, and pushing Uma Thurman to do a car stunt in Kill Bill, which went wrong causing permanent physical problems for her. No good, Mr. Quentin. But there is a lot to balance it out. He is described by everyone in the doc as a very nice guy who enjoys life, and appears to be a great friend for his many cronies.

Pulp Fiction, that followed Reservoir Dogs, is one of the masterpieces of the past 50 years. Michael Madsen, for whom the part of Vincent Vega was originally written, was committed to Wyatt Earp at that time. Nightmare! He takes it well, commenting on the extremely successful casting of John Travolta. “It is one of main reasons the movie worked.” Plus Travolta can dance and Madsen – who did a dance scene in Reservoir Dogs – can’t, at least in his own opinion. “They would have had to change the script into that they don’t win the dance contest.”

How do you follow up a masterpiece like Pulp? You don’t. Just make a very good genre film instead starring Pam Grier, queen of the blaxploitation movies Quentin went to see during his childhood. Jackie Brown is a beautiful film about people trying to figure out what to do with their lives. Then he made another genre film with a strong female lead, a mash-up between Hong Kong cinema and a spaghetti western. Kill Bill is an astonishing accomplishment. Bit of trivia: The razor the Bride uses to escape from the coffin in Vol. 2 is the same used by Mr. Blonde in the torture scene in Dogs. Everything is related in the Tarantino universe.

Then he went on to make another feministic movie with powerful girls in it. Death Proof is a clever slasher flick / carploitation movie shot by the maestro himself. With an unforgettable Kurt Russell as Stuntman Mike. After that came his war movie effort. Inglourious Basterds is unlike any war film ever done before. It is storytelling at his best. Django Unchained is another historic film and it’s brutal. It might just be a little too funny for a film about slavery. But Tarantino likes to hand out justice to his characters. Hitler gets machine gunned to death in Basterds and in Django, the black hero – after having killed a ton of slavers – rides off into the sunset with his girl, an image you won’t find in many westerns.

The Hateful Eight, the final movie treated in this doc, is in a way Reservoir Dogs redone as western. Everything comes full circle. Even Weinstein’s story. Apparently John ‘The Hangman’ Ruth (played by Kurt Russell) is based on the monstrous Weinstein. He gets a big fat lesson in the film. Tarantino said many times that he wants to quit at ten movies, because otherwise he fears the quality will go down and people will say: ‘This one is not so good, but this guy used to make great movies’. Let’s hope he will break his word and continue to make movies forever. His style and voice are unique and irreplaceable in Hollywood. Whatever happens, currently nine films are in the can. And I will certainly keep enjoying his work till the end of my days and share it with friends. When you absolutely, positively, want to blow away everybody motherfucker in the room, accept no substitutes.

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld


‘Girls like me don’t make invitations like this to just anyone!’

Directed by:
Quentin Tarantino

Written by:
Quentin Tarantino (stories / screenplay)
Roger Avary (stories)

Cast:
John Travolta (Vincent Vega), Samuel L. Jackson (Jules Winnfield), Uma Thurman (Mia Wallace), Tim Roth (Pumpkin), Amanda Plummer (Honey Bunny), Bruce Willis (Butch Coolidge), Ving Rhames (Marsellus Wallace), Eric Stoltz (Lance), Rosanna Arquette (Jody), Harvey Keitel (Winston Wolf)

After Quentin Tarantino’s insanely cool debut in 1992, Reservoir Dogs – which he wrote and directed – the expectations of him in movieland were quite high. Two years later he delivered. When Pulp Fiction premièred at Cannes in 1994, they didn’t know what hit them. Tarantino’s L.A.-based crime opus, inspired by the Black Mask pulp magazine, blew them all away.

The three intersecting stories that are told non-chronologically in Pulp Fiction are all amazing in their own way. The first one about two hitmen Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) that have to dispose of a headless body and blood-soaked car is both mean and hysterical. The second one in which Vega takes gangster boss Marcellus Wallace’s wife Mia (Uma Thurman) out on a date (“it’s not a date!”) is druggy, cool, sensual and exciting. The third story about boxer Butch (Bruce Willis) who swindles Marcellus Wallace is romantic, ironic and twisted. The whole plot is tied together by a crazy short about a young couple in love who decide to rob the restaurant they are having breakfast in.Whether a person knows about movies or not, it is hard to miss that this is an amazingly clever movie. The screenplay is out of this world and so is the cast (5 million dollars of the 8 million budget went to the cast). The non-chronological structure to which Tarantino holds the patent is never done better. And although not his most mature, the dialogues about foot massages, piercings, TV-pilots and uncomfortable silences are unforgettable. Especially the exchanges between Vega and Winnfield are absolutely hilarious.

Of course, this being Tarantino’s early masterpiece, it contains a trainload of movie references. One could even call it his ultimate homage to cinema. But what makes it richer and cleverer than just a highly entertaining crime flick stuffed with pop-culture dialogues and references, is the biblical thread that runs through it. It is truly remarkable how the separate stories intertwine and destiny comes into play the whole time. For example, Butch and Marcellus Wallace walk into the most terrible place on earth, but it does put them square in the end. And what becomes a life changing event for Winnfield, is ignored by Vega for whom things soon end badly. All the characters get a lesson in some sort of way. Some get a second chance and some don’t. The viewer can keep looking into this and discover new things all the time. In this respect, the screenwriters did a wonderful job and justly won an Oscar for it.

The nineties was a glorious time for cinema, when surprises like Pulp Fiction would still appear once in a while. Although, we can only hope for this period to return, we can also re-live the beautiful movie experiences from the past. Like the content of the mysterious briefcase in the movie, Pulp Fiction is a treasure that will undoubtedly still be viewed and honored long into the future.

Rating:

Quote:
JULES:  “Marcellus Wallace don’t like to be fucked by anybody except Mrs. Wallace.”

Trivia:
Samuel L. Jackson auditioned for the part of Mr. Orange in Reservoir Dogs (1992), but it went to Tim Roth. Tarantino enjoyed Jackson’s work so much that he wrote the part of Jules specifically for him.