Roger Ebert celebrated in Life, Itself

Steve James, renowned documentarian of the bonafide classic Hoop Dreams and The Interrupters, returns with a paean to one of the great film critics of the 20th century and who morphed into a technological visionary for the 21st century, Pulitizer Prize winning author and Chicago Sun Times journalist, Roger Ebert.

Roger Ebert was akin to a giant in film writing circles, widely respected and more beloved than his contemporaries Pauline Kael and Andrew Sarris.  Ebert garnered nationwide celebrity in America thanks to his television show partnership with Gene Siskel (of the Chicago Tribune) on At the Movies, where they were famous for the 'Two Thumbs Up' endorsement.

Ebert's legendary grasp of film knowledge and history along with his appraisal of up and coming American filmmakers led to him cementing the careers of many first time filmmakers - among them this film's executive producer, Martin Scorsese.  Others who have been embraced by Ebert's praise in his writings include Errol Morris, Werner Herzog, Ramin Bahrani and Selma director Ava DuVernay. All are featured in the documentary telling them how his positive influence of their work has directly influenced their output.

Following his diagnosis of cancer in his lower jaw, leading to multiple surgeries and operations, Ebert decided to have his lower jaw removed from his mouth and therefore leaving him unable to speak.  However this did not deter Ebert's work, he remained a force of nature in terms of copy, becoming a scion for the internet and a visionary in the power of social media. Without having a voice, he maintained the necessity to have one.  His writing which had become more fan friendly to the actors he adored in the 1990s had rediscovered his verve and produced some of the finest writing of his career in his later years before his passing in 2013.

 

James' documentary is part celebration and tribute piece from the directors whose career owe Ebert's input, his friends from the paper and his family.  Most notably his soulmate, Chaz Ebert, who like Roger was a recovering alcoholic when they met.  This bond they had helped galvanise him and stay focused on his work, sometimes all you need is a good woman.

To this reviewer it is ironic that in the same week I viewed Life, Itself I also had the pleasure of viewing The Theory of Everything; another film about another genius trapped in a wheelchair for the majority of the movie and yet helped by the love of a good woman, sometimes that is all we as men need.

Whilst not holding back punches in depicting the end of Ebert's life, James nevertheless serves Ebert with the dignity of not showing him at his worst, instead we see the final exchange of emails between Ebert and James - these are not only a fan and his idol reminiscing, but a conversation between two friends who have grown close over the production. 

One moment that sticks with you is the admission by Ebert using his voice command on his computer, that he will more than likely have passed by the time the film itself is released. The shock of this realisation is not lost on Chaz and the testimonies of his step-grandchildren who reflect on the films they have enjoyed watching together all the more heartbreaking and tear-jerking.

This is a film not just about a writer and his legacy, but a film about a man fighting the deadly cancer within him and still fighting to combat the debilitating effect it has on you, the film does more than enough to cement the legitimacy of Roger Ebert as one of the finest cinephile minds of this or any era.  His memory rightly lives on and this documentary serves as the warmest of tributes to it.  Two thumbs way up.

Life, Itself is released on DVD from Dogwoof on Monday 23rd February
You can find Roger Ebert's vast work of film criticism at his website http://www.rogerebert.com/

An Interview with Steve James

In anticipation of Steve James' forthcoming book The Plan: How Fletcher and Flower Transformed English Cricket, available from all good bookshops on Monday 24th May, I was granted the opportunity to ask him some questions about the book and his analysis.

As we know from the book's outline you discuss at length the transformation of England from the worst test team to the Number 1 team in the world.  You base the transformation on the work of two individuals - Duncan Fletcher and Andy Flower; what have these two men done to change the English game?
It's not just about them but they obviously played huge roles. Both of them brought clarity when there was darkness.  

Yet these two men have different traits how can they both take credit?

They're different but very similar if that makes sense! Fletcher is the technical expert, Flower the man manager.

So how did someone like Peter Moores become a failure?

In fairness to Peter, a lot of what he put in place is still there.  He employed Flower firstly. It was the way he conveyed his messages that was wrong, and he is quite honest about this in the book.

Why was the change necessary, what was wrong with England when they lost at home to New Zealand in that fateful summer of 1999 at the Oval?
Everything! No coach, no direction, poor selection. The introduction of central contracts coming in was huge in terms of consistent selection, and the most influential change resulting in England's success.  Fletcher couldn't have done what he did without them. Nor Flower.

Does the influence of Captains deserve to be acknowleged?

[Nasser] Hussain was the most important, his determination helped to toughen England up.  [Michael] Vaughan and [Andrew] Strauss have obviously been very good in different ways.

It seems the most pivotal point of this transformation was the Ashes success of 2005, itself a formulation of a plan to implement certain bowlers?

Yes it had been coming together for a while.  The tragedy was that that attack - Steve Harmison, Simon Jones, Matthew Hoggard, Andrew Flintoff, Ashley Giles - never played together again in a test match.

What are your memories of that 2005 Ashes summer?
My favourite memory is arriving at Old Trafford on the last day and being convinced there had been a  bomb scare with so many people without tickets streaming away from the ground.  On the field it was the reverse swing of Flintoff and Jones- the Australians simply had no answer to that bowling with Flintoff always taking wickets on vital occasions.

What has greater significance, the 2005 Ashes or winning the Ashes in Australia in 2010?
2005. It was against one of the greatest sides ever...

What does the future hold for the English test side? A big test awaits this year at home and abroad.
They'll still be No 1 by the end of the summer I reckon in a 3 test series against South Africa. India will be very tricky, just like last winter [in a four test series]

Is there anything you would change with the current England set-up?
Not particularly, however there are lots I would change in the County game though.

Can 'The Plan' continue to reap rewards beyond the next two Ashes series in 2013/14?
I hope so but a lot of course will depend on how Australia change themselves.  It looks like they have started to copy our plans which is what we did to them.  Nothing lasts forever though.

Many thanks to Steve James for giving me the chance to interview him before the release of his fourth book, The Plan:How Fletcher and Flower Transformed English Cricket, published by Bantam Press on Thursday 24th May for £20.00RRP

www.transworld-publishers.co.uk
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Steve James is cricket columnist for the Sunday Telegraph and a sports writer for the Daily Telegraph.  He won two caps for England.
Follow him on twitter @sjamesjourno

The Interrupters

From the acclaimed director Steve James of the seminal 1990s basketball documentary Hoop Dreams, comes another tale of small people with big ambitions as we follow them on their day to day life.

Steve James takes his obtrusive and investigative camera onto the streets of Chicago as we follow in the footsteps of three interrupters - from the Ceasefire organisation who work intimately in their local areas to avoid political incidents becoming violent episodes on the streets, over the summer of 2009 to the early spring of 2010.

Alex Kotlowitz, whose original article is the basis for the film, wrote the script as he knows these people and their whereabouts and how they do their work. Kotlowitz's article focused on the groups founder Gary Slutkin, who equates violence with an infectious disease, insisting that its spread can be combated the way one would contain an outbreak of cholera or TB: by going after, as Kotlowitz (who serves as producer and also collaborated on interviews and sound) explains in his article, the most infected areas and stopping the sickness at its source.

James has a keen eye as a filmmaker and is a strong non-fiction director giving a voice to those rarely if never heard on such a vast platform, he follows the three mainstays of the group - Amena Matthews, Cobe Williams and Eddie Bocanegra - all have criminal pasts, like most of the organization's outreach employees; their histories give them not just street cred but an understanding of how to defuse volatile disputes between family members, neighbors, and schools. CeaseFire, as The Interrupters points out more than once, isn't a substitute for the police, or even a partner; indeed, the group operates at times within a gray area. The focus, as one worker explains, "isn't trying to dismantle gangs but to save a life"—in other words, to stop a trigger from being pulled.

Following on from the seminal success of The Wire - this is equally gritty, full-on, graphic at times in its too close to the bone content but still this is a gripping, important and most significantly, hopeful document of good souls who do exist in this unique urban milieu such as Chicago suburbs depicted here.  Good sometimes will out.

The Interrupters is released from Dogwoof Pictures on DVD from Monday 5th December.