Remembering Roger Ebert and his critical process

      As noted extensively over the past week, Roger Ebert passed away at the age of 70 on Thursday afternoon due to recurring health problems related to thyroid cancer. The first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize (there have since been three others, in 2003, 2005, and 2012 respectively), Ebert, along with fellow At The Movies co-host Gene Siskel, became the literal face of film criticism (consistently noted as one Ebert's favorite film critics, The New Republic's Stanley Kauffman continues on at 96 years young). Writing about film for the Chicago Sun-Times for over forty-five years, Ebert was known and well liked for his wit, directness, conversational style, and remarkable readability. When you read a review from the man, you were likely to read another three or four right after. Just the other day I was reading his introduction to the 1989 edition of his Movie Home Companion (pictured on the left) where he discussed current issues in the film world: Hi Def televisions, VHS and Laservision and the emergence of sell-through in home video, Letterboxing, and Ted Turner's love for the colorization of old black-and-white movies. If it seems like a dry read, it surprisingly isn't.

     I always found Ebert to write very honestly, and for his readers, this was very refreshing. While this is not to imply that his fellow critics were less so,  Ebert let the reader in on the personal internal process in a way not many followed suit. Some critics write from the somewhat removed perspective of retrospectively looking back at a film; Ebert wrote like he was writing as it played before him. His writing felt very much in the moment — with zero fat but multiple asides — and so it was no surprise that he adapted so effortlessly to the world of online blogs and Twitter. Less a theorist than a newspaperman who took his job very seriously, Ebert's work felt like beat coverage mixed with immediate honest reaction: his extensive film festival reportage (often found in the back of his Movie Yearbooks) are great reads.

     For film critics and readers of film criticism, Ebert's reviews often let other writers get a sense of his moviegoing thought process. For me, this was fascinating stuff. Some of the critic's reviews that I return to the most have to do with marginal, forgettable films, and how he struggled with writing about them. As Ebert tried to review as much as possible, there were occasions where he just couldn't find himself connecting with the material on screen, and his writing openly expressed his frustration with succumbing to enui (A Taste of Cherry here,  I Heart Huckabees here). He also relived the actual viewing process by reviewing the audience he saw a movie with (Friday The 13th Part II here, I Spit On Your Grave here). 

     Occasionally he would question the greatness of a supposed instant classic (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest here, Gladiator here, and The Godfather Part II here), while other times he would review a film on At The Movies and write his print review afterward, struggling with why he gave such a positive review on the television program in the first place (The Longest Yard here, or in the case of The Best of 1992 episode, reconsidering a first impression of Unforgiven here). There was also the infamous Tru Loved review (here) that, although he later regretted, sparked an interesting debate about criticism ethics.

     Roger Ebert will be missed. Film critics born after 1975 (when At The Movies premiered) must admit that they were influenced, however slightly, by Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, and the two critics' voices are heard throughout modern critics today. Accessible, funny, and enjoyably addictive, Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, as many have noted, brought film criticism into the minds and homes of many. Critical support this week for Ebert has been inspiring (A.O. Scott here, Leonard Maltin here, David Edelstein here, and Peter Bogdonovich here), and the legacy of the man will surely influence many more for years to come.

 

     Roger Ebert's funeral service will take place Monday morning at the Holy Name Cathedral (information can be found here) at 10AM, while Ebertfest will go on as scheduled April 17th through April 21st. Ebert is survived by his wife of twenty-one years, Chaz Ebert.