"The movies are like a machine that generates empathy."

July 2, 2014 5:11 PM

Life Itself. The documentary based on Roger Ebert’s memoir, by Hoop Dreams’ director Steve James, premiered at Sundance in January and is now rolling out in theaters and on demand.
posted by scody (6 comments total)

Sorry, meant to post this as well: great interview with Chaz Ebert and Steve James about making the documentary.
posted by scody at 5:17 PM on July 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

The man was a goddamned national treasure, and I'm glad he lived long enough for everyone to realize it.
posted by Etrigan at 5:28 PM on July 2, 2014 [9 favorites]

Saw it at EbertFest this year and had a hard time not tearing up given the venue and the fact that you knew Chaz was a few rows over watching it with us.
posted by octothorpe at 5:33 PM on July 2, 2014 [4 favorites]

Oh and they ran this little trailer before each movie this year that has a bigger version of the "empathy machine" quote. What he says there about film is really true for all good works of art or should be true.
posted by octothorpe at 5:40 PM on July 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Ebert was so great and Steve James makes such good documentaries. I expect this to be really excellent. I hadn't realized it's going to roll out on demand, which will work out well for me. Thanks for the tip!
posted by Stacey at 6:24 PM on July 2, 2014

They haven't posted the episode yet, but Chaz and Steve were on Fresh Air today, and it was really, really good. A lot of very honest talk, some of it pretty hard to listen to.
posted by jbickers at 10:12 AM on July 3, 2014 [1 favorite]