DOC NYC
THREE TALL LIVES
by armen pandola
The definition of a documentary is pretty bland: a presentation (such as a film or novel) expressing or dealing with factual events. Sad that the word has these connotations when, in fact, documentary films can be and often are much more exciting than most ‘fictional’ movies.
Take three documentaries at this year’s DOC NYC which is showing dozens of great documentaries and is currently showing. Each of these three is about a famous person or family, but each comes at its subject from different perspectives, giving us a new look at familiar faces and lives.
DEAN MARTIN: KING OF COOL
Dino Crochetti made himself into Dean Martin, a much cooler guy than any of the characters he ever played. The film traces Martin’s career from the juke joints he worked in back home in Steubenville, Ohio to the little better than juke joints he worked in in New York and Atlantic City (and yes, he had his nose ‘fixed’). One night at the 500 Club in A.C., he teamed up with a very young comedian, Jerry Lewis, whose schtick was to lip sync to records - usually operatic ones. Neither had much of an act - sure Dino could sing and Jerry could be funny, but so could ten thousand other guys. Together though - well, think Reese cups. Chocolate, good. Peanut butter, good. Chocolate and peanut butter - wow! The combination was perfect because Dino was very cool and, as a relative of Dino’s says when she first met Jerry, ‘he was the first ADD child I ever met.’ When they split up, no one thought Dean could make it on his own - except for Orson Welles who told Peter Bogdanavich that it was Dean who was really the star of the act. Records, movies, TV, Vegas, live concerts all over the world - Dean had one of the most successful careers in show business. Married three times, but had only one lasting love, Jeannie, the Orange Bowl queen he married in the early 50s. But even Jeannie said that she never felt she got to know him. A few years ago, I wrote a musical play bio of Dino that covered much of the same ground - Dino was Dean Martin to the world but to his family and friends he was still Dino Crochetti.
THE REAL CHARLIE CHAPLIN
Charles Chaplin was the greatest comic actor, writer, producer and director of his time - from the infancy of film to the collapse of the studio system in the 1950s. For a long period, he was the most famous person on earth. His creation, The Tramp, was so flexible that he could find himself in a factory, a circus, a boxing ring, a gold rush - the list is endless. And it never didn’t work. Wherever the Tramp went, he found himself immersed in the business of being human. This documentary wants us to know the man behind the Tramp facade. In many ways, they were very similar. Chaplin came from dire poverty in the hovels of late Victorian London. In many respects, he never left there. His politics were never very precise except that he was always for the underdog, for the Tramp. During the shameful period of American history when the FBI spied on every prominent person (probably still do) and tried to ruin the careers of all those who were sympathetic to working people (again, they probably still do) Chaplin was forced to leave the US and prevented from returning. He never fully recovered from the shock.
THE ROSSELLINIS
In 1945, Roberto Rossellini directed Open City, a movie about the Nazi occupation of Rome during World War II. No one had ever seen a movie like it - many thought it was a documentary. It started the neo-realism movement in film and influenced almost all of the new breed of filmmakers who came to prominence in the 60s and 70s. This film examines not the movies, but the man and his family. Married with children, Roberto’s meeting with famous Hollywood actress, Ingrid Bergman, changed both of their lives irretrievably. They both left spouses to live with each other, causing a worldwide scandal. The family that emerged was truly international. This film is made by Alessandro Rossellini, son of the famous director’s son, Renzo, and an African-American dancer, Katherine. Alessandro made the film as a kind of family therapy, all suffering from what he calls ‘Rossellini-itis,’ a disease causing various ailments such as high expectations and constant media scrutiny. Emerging as the modern matriarch is Isabella Rossellini, the famous actress/model. While it is not clear what Alessandro hopes to accomplish in this film, he does show us a modern, international family that has dealt with many of the problems most modern families have to deal with, for example, addiction and wildly different economic fortunes.
IFC NY DOC FESTIVAL
https://www.docnyc.net/
11/15/21