Category Archives: Film History Documentaries

Filmworker
Directed by Tony Zierra
2017/US
True Studio Media
First viewing/Netflix Instant

[box] If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed. — Stanley Kubrick[/box]

Fascinating documentary about an actor who gave up fame and fortune to become Stanley Kubrick’s unsung right-hand man.

Leon Vitali was having a promising career on British TV when Stanley Kubrick hired him to act in Barry Lyndon (1975).  Vitali became so fascinated with the technical process that he asked if he could sit in the cutting room, gratis, when Kubrick made his next film.  So began a 40-year relationship with an irascible, amazingly gifted fellow filmworker.  Vitali went on to do just about every job required on the set and more in service of his master’s vision.  His relationship with the director extended after Kubrick’s death to a central role in the preservation of his films.

I love documentaries about niche jobs in the film industry and you can’t get more niche, yet more all-encompassing, than Leon Vitali’s.  He’s a very sweet man, with a continued unsullied idolatry of Kubrick, and a good talker.  There’s also a number of interviews with actors and others that worked with Vitali on Kubrick’s films.  Recommended.  If you are a Kubrick fan, possibly essential.

Scene from Barry Lyndon. Vitali is seated on the grass front and center.

Becoming Mike Nichols
Directed by Douglas McGrath
2016/US
HBO Documentary Films
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] [Part of 2005 Tony Award acceptance speech] “God, my head is totally empty. I had a thing I was going to say, and I have forgot it, because I had given up so long ago. But the first thing to say is thank you. … I guess you are thinking age before beauty, me too! My congratulations to the winners. My love to those who have not won tonight. I just want to remind you of my motto: Cheer up, life isn’t everything. It always stands me in good stead.” — Mike Nichols[/box]

In the last interview he gave before his death, the multi-talented Mike Nichols talked with theater director Jack O’Brien about his life and work.  The conversation spans  his family’s immigration to the U.S. from Nazi Germany, through his improv work and directing on Broadway, finishing his stunning early career as a film director in Who’s Afraid of Virginia and The Graduate.  Nichols is a very engaging talker and the whole thing is packed with superb clips.  My favorites were from various sketches with Elaine May.  Recommended. Currently available on YouTube.

78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene
Directed by Alexandre O. Philippe
US/2017
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Psycho (1960) gave me very wrinkled skin. I was in that shower for seven days – 70 setups. At least, he [Alfred Hitchcock] made sure the water was warm. — Janet Leigh[/box]

The shower scene in Psycho (1960) brought graphic violence in film to a whole new level.  The scene took 78 camera setups and seven days to shoot.  It occupies only a three minutes on screen but provides plenty of material for a 91 minute documentary.  We meet participants such as Leigh’s body double and contemporary directors talking about the influence of the scene on later works.  Really interesting.

Hitchcock/Truffaut
Directed by Kent Jones
US/2015
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] It’s only a movie, and, after all, we’re all grossly overpaid. — Alfred Hitchcock[/box]

A host of filmmakers and other talking heads discuss the impact of the 1966 book I have always known as “Hitchcock/Truffaut” but is apparently actually called “Cinema According to Hitchcock”. And what a wonderful book it is!  Over the course of many hours, Hitchcock opens up in great detail about all the films to an adoring Truffaut who must be credited for asking some excellent questions.  It’s a fine documentary but even better would be to pull the book out again for another read.