What a disappointment! As a huge Buster Keaton fan, I was really looking forward to Peter Bogdanovich's documentary, but it was just awful. I came away with absolutely no insight to Buster's inner character, why he made certain choices in his life, or even little tidbits like his hobbies or whether or not he liked animals. The entire ninety minutes could be summed up as "Here are five quick facts about Buster Keaton: he started in vaudeville with his family, he made silent movies with elaborate stunts, his career took a nosedive after talkies, and he made a comeback in television and commercials." There's very little else you will gleam from this documentary, which is a crying shame.
Bogdanovich was a major reason why this movie was so bad. As writer, director, and narrator, I held him directly responsible for the lack of personal information included. In the section of the documentary when Keaton was making his feature-length silent films, Bogdanovich actually told the audience, "More on that later." He skipped to the invention of talking pictures, skimmed through the rest of Keaton's life, and then after the funeral, he disjointedly cut back to the 1920s silent films. The last half hour was merely footage of Keaton's films run under Bogdanovich's commentary of his interpretations and opinions of the movies.
No offense, but his opinions have no relevance to a documentary on Keaton's life. If Bogdanovich wanted to release an anthology of his film critiques, he should have done so. But to take up one-third of the running time with "Here's what I think of this scene" is egocentric and immaterial. If he didn't want to end the documentary on the "downer" tone of Keaton's funeral, he could have wrapped it up with all the young comedians interviewed saying that Keaton was a great inspiration and continues to be remembered in the present day.
Also, Bogdanovich's constant narration was told in the present tense, which was not only inaccurate (In 2018, Buster does not "go" to Hollywood; he "went" to Hollywood) but it was incredibly jarring when the other interviewees all spoke in the past tense. So, while I enjoyed seeing Dick Van Dyke, Richard Lewis, Carl Reiner, and Mel Brooks talking about Keaton's influence, the rest wasn't worth watching. The younger folks seemed out of place, put in the lineup quite obviously to secure more viewership, especially since they didn't contribute any information besides "the Great Stone Face is awesome." For all you'll learn from this documentary, you might as well watch the Donald O'Connor biopic instead - which ironically, this movie insults for its lack of correct information.
Bogdanovich was a major reason why this movie was so bad. As writer, director, and narrator, I held him directly responsible for the lack of personal information included. In the section of the documentary when Keaton was making his feature-length silent films, Bogdanovich actually told the audience, "More on that later." He skipped to the invention of talking pictures, skimmed through the rest of Keaton's life, and then after the funeral, he disjointedly cut back to the 1920s silent films. The last half hour was merely footage of Keaton's films run under Bogdanovich's commentary of his interpretations and opinions of the movies.
No offense, but his opinions have no relevance to a documentary on Keaton's life. If Bogdanovich wanted to release an anthology of his film critiques, he should have done so. But to take up one-third of the running time with "Here's what I think of this scene" is egocentric and immaterial. If he didn't want to end the documentary on the "downer" tone of Keaton's funeral, he could have wrapped it up with all the young comedians interviewed saying that Keaton was a great inspiration and continues to be remembered in the present day.
Also, Bogdanovich's constant narration was told in the present tense, which was not only inaccurate (In 2018, Buster does not "go" to Hollywood; he "went" to Hollywood) but it was incredibly jarring when the other interviewees all spoke in the past tense. So, while I enjoyed seeing Dick Van Dyke, Richard Lewis, Carl Reiner, and Mel Brooks talking about Keaton's influence, the rest wasn't worth watching. The younger folks seemed out of place, put in the lineup quite obviously to secure more viewership, especially since they didn't contribute any information besides "the Great Stone Face is awesome." For all you'll learn from this documentary, you might as well watch the Donald O'Connor biopic instead - which ironically, this movie insults for its lack of correct information.