''Life Itself'' is a 2014 American biographical

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

about

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

film critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

, directed by Steve James and produced by Zak Piper, James and Garrett Basch. The film is based on Ebert's 2011 memoir of the same name. It premiered at the 2014

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

and was an official selection at the 67th

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

. The 41st Telluride Film Festival hosted a special screening of the film on August 28, 2014. Magnolia Pictures released the film theatrically in the United States and simultaneously via

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

platforms on July 4, 2014. On December 2, 2014, the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...

announced that the film was 1 of 15 films shortlisted in the Documentary Feature category for the

87th Academy Awards The 87th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best 2014 in film, films of 2014 and took place on February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, ...

, but it was not nominated. It was also nominated for two News & Documentary Emmy Awards, winning the award for Outstanding Editing: Documentary & Long-Form.

Structure

The film makes use of footage and interviews with American film critic Roger Ebert during the final months of his life interspersed with interviews of his friends, colleagues, and family including:

Chaz Ebert Chaz Ebert (born Charlie Hammel; October 15, 1952) is an American attorney and businesswoman. Early life and education Ebert was born in Chicago to Johnnie Hobbs Hammel and Wiley Hammel Sr. She attended Crane Technical High School in Chicago. S ...

(his wife),

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

Werner Herzog Werner Herzog (; born 5 September 1942) is a German film director, screenwriter, author, actor, and opera director, regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema. His films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with un ...

Errol Morris Errol Mark Morris (born February 5, 1948) is an American film director known for documentaries that interrogate the epistemology of its subjects. In 2003, his documentary film '' The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara ...

A.O. Scott Anthony Oliver Scott (born July 10, 1966) is an American journalist and cultural critic. He has been chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' since 2004, a title he shares with Manohla Dargis. Early life Scott was born on July 10, 1966 in ...

Jonathan Rosenbaum Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for ''The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008, when he retired. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has ...

, Ramin Bahrani, Gregory Nava,

Richard Corliss Richard Nelson Corliss (March 6, 1944 – April 23, 2015) was an American film critic and magazine editor for ''Time''. He focused on movies, with occasional articles on other subjects. He was the former editor-in-chief of ''Film Comment' ...

, and Ava DuVernay, among others. Voice actor Stephen Stanton impersonates Ebert and reads his writings. The film features clips from Ebert's popular television show with

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...

, including outtakes, and their many appearances on shows like '' The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' and ''

Late Night with David Letterman ''Late Night with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on NBC, the first iteration of the ''Late Night'' franchise. It premiered on February 1, 1982, and was produced by Letterman's production company ...

''. The film also explores the relationship between Siskel and Ebert, Roger's friendship with Russ Meyer and their collaboration on '' Beyond the Valley of the Dolls'', as well as how Roger ultimately came to transcend film criticism to become an influential cultural voice.

Production

On September 7, 2012, a

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

of the 2011 memoir ''Life Itself'' was first announced by Ebert on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

: "Whoa! My memoir has been optioned for a doc by Steve James ('' Hoop Dreams''), with

and Steven Zaillian as exec producers." Steve James said: "That’s what made me want to do the movie: the way in which his life had this extraordinary desire for adventure and then, of course, he did his share of suffering and soldiering on. And all of that informed the kind of critic he became. It informed his reviews. It informed everything about who he was and what we came to collectively love about him." On April 4, 2013, following Ebert's death, the filmmakers expressed their condolences and promised to finish the film. On November 20, 2013, an Indiegogo campaign was launched to raise money for the film. Over $150,000 was raised. Locations seen in the film include the

Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool The Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool, also known as Lincoln Park Lily Pool, is an important example of Prairie School landscape architecture designed by Alfred Caldwell and located at 125 W. Fullerton Parkway (between Stockton and Cannon Drives) in Linc ...

, the Old Town Ale House, the Chateau Marmont, and

Hotel Splendid Hotel Splendid is a 5-star hotel in Bečići, Montenegro. The hotel was completely reconstructed between 2005 and 2006. Hotel’s history Hotel Splendid is owned and managed by the ''Montenegro Stars Hotel Group''. The management company was ...

Release

On January 18, 2013, CNN Films announced that it had acquired the rights to air ''Life Itself'' on television. It premiered at the

2014 Sundance Film Festival The 2014 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 16, 2014 until January 26, 2014 in Park City, Utah, United States, with screenings in Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance Resort in Utah. The festival opened with ''Whiplash'' directed by Da ...

. Magnolia Pictures released the film theatrically in the US on July 4, 2014.

Dogwoof Dogwoof is a film-distribution company based in the United Kingdom. History Dogwoof Pictures Dogwoof was founded in 2003 by Andy Whittaker, and originally concentrated on foreign films, including such titles as ''Don't Move'', '' Fateless'', ' ...

released the film in the UK on November 14, 2014. The film aired on

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

on January 4, 2015.

Reception

''Life Itself'' has received universal acclaim from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds a rating of 98% based on 200 reviews, with an average rating of 8.40/10; the critics' consensus states: "Rich in detail and warmly affectionate, ''Life Itself'' offers a joyful yet poignant tribute to a critical cinematic legacy." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the documentary has a score of 87 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Ann Hornaday of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' gave the film 3/4 stars and wrote: "You may not have agreed with Ebert's reviews — you may not have thought he was such a nice guy. But if you aren't moved by "Life Itself," you ought to have your heart examined." Kate Muir of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' wrote: "Fans of the great populist film critic Roger Ebert will be both moved and amused by ''Life Itself''". Peter Travers of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' wrote: "Though ''Life Itself'' is a warts-and-all portrait Ebert didn't live to review, my guess is his thumbs would be shooting upward. Mine sure are."

Mark Kermode Mark James Patrick Kermode (, ; ; born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician, radio presenter, television presenter and podcaster. He is the chief film critic for ''The Observer'', contributes to the magazine ''Sight & Sound'', prese ...

, writing for ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'', gave it a score of 4/5 stars and wrote: "this lovely, insightful film is a splendidly watchable tribute to a truly cinematic life. I laughed, I cried; I was inspired and uplifted." Peter Bradshaw of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' also gave the film 4/5 stars, describing it as "an inspiring documentary for critics, and anyone who loves cinema." Geoffrey Macnab of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' also gave the film 4/5 stars, writing: "A film about a movie critic might not sound an attractive proposition, but Steve James’s biographical documentary... is deeply moving." Antonia Quirke of the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' was more critical, giving it a score of 2/5 and writing: "It's undercooked (we're not even told what movies he loved as a child) and a clip of the great New Yorker critic Pauline Kael speaking made me sit bolt upright thinking "Now you're talking."" Kristy Puchko of CinemaBlend gave the film 2.5/5 stars, writing: "''Life Itself'' is ultimately nowhere near as inspiring, entertaining, or mirth-filled as the man himself. And for me, that is a profound and unforgivable disappointment."

References

Bibliography

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Life Itself 2014 films 2014 documentary films American documentary films American biographical films Films directed by Steve James Biographical films about journalists Biographical films about writers Documentary films about writers Documentary films about journalists Documentary films about Chicago Documentary films about the film industry Documentary films about cancer Documentary films about death Films based on biographies Kartemquin Films films CNN Films films Roger Ebert 2010s English-language films Siskel and Ebert 2010s American films