by Emily Reuben While a good portion of any film festival is comprised of new films being showcased for the first time, another privilege of attending these festivals lies in seeing older films with input from cast, crew, and interview subjects. Last weekend, Heartland Film Festival hosted a special screening of the director Steve James' 2014 documentary Life Itself. Detailing the life of one of America’s most influential and prominent film critics, Roger Ebert, Life Itself is an emotionally impactful, beautifully crafted look at Roger’s career. For this special screening at Heartland Film Festival, Roger Ebert’s wife, Chaz Ebert attended and hosted a brief Q&A session after the viewing. As a young film enthusiast, Roger Ebert is one of my greatest inspirations. I was initially introduced to Roger Ebert sometime in middle school. I had taken to watching online film reviewers, notably Doug Walker, better known as “The Nostalgia Critic.” I loved the comedic approach of looking at old, nostalgic content and found myself watching frequently. In one episode of Doug’s online review show, the criticism was directed at the film North. While the film had come out before my time, I had heard about its ridiculously racist attempts at humor and overall poor presentation, which piqued my curiosity. In the review, Doug made reference to a Siskel and Ebert episode of At the Movies in which Ebert boldly stated his distaste for the film. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAAEFRVQU14[/embed] In his written review, Roger went further:
"I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it."
RogerEbert.com IMDb
