Director Susan Lacy’s documentary on the world’s most famous
filmmaker gives you a solid overview of his career. Lacy is a veteran of PBS’s American Masters
series and the film often plays like an extended episode of that show. She covers all his cinematic milestones in
fine fashion, but I for one would've liked to have seen a little more time
spent on some of Spielberg’s lesser movies.
(Sometimes failures are more interesting to discuss than successes.) At least they give a little insight into 1941.
What I wasn’t expecting was how it delved into his personal
life. The way Lacy portrayed the relationship
between Spielberg and his parents was especially touching. Because of that, you can see how the themes
in his work ran concurrent with his relationship with his
father.
The best segment focuses on Spielberg’s friendship with his fellow
filmmakers (dubbed “The Movie Brats”).
If you’ve ever wanted to be a fly on the wall while Spielberg, George Lucas,
Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, and Francis Ford Coppola were hanging out and
shooting pool in the prime of their career, you’re gonna love this movie. The home movies of The Movie Brats chilling
out together are just awesome. Hopefully
there’s a lot more of that footage laying around somewhere. It would make a great documentary on its own.
While the film is a bit obvious in parts, I liked how they
showed Spielberg maturing throughout his career. Looking back, Schindler’s List seems like a
no-brainer, but it’s easy to forget that at the time, a three-hour
black-and-white movie about the Holocaust was anything but a guaranteed success.
Sure, it does run on a little long and would’ve benefited
from some tighter editing in its final act.
(I would’ve also liked it if Lacy finally got to the bottom of the whole
“Who directed Poltergeist” controversy.)
Despite that, it remains an entertaining and absorbing documentary that
should please Spielberg’s legions of fans.
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