New Pauline Kael doc
unwrapped on Christmas Day
BY GABE HERMAN
A new documentary about the legendary
New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael opens
on Dec. 25 at the Film Forum, at 209 W.
Houston St.
“What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael,” directed
by Rob Garver, explores Kael’s life and her
impact as a film critic who loved movies and the
arts, and was loved and sometimes hated for her
often blunt writing and opinions.
Pauline Kael (1919-2001) grew up in California,
and took a winding road to becoming a film critic,
and eventually a well-known critic at The New
Yorker, where she worked from 1968-1991 as one
of the most influential critics of the time.
Kael had a daughter in 1948, and in the following
years would work various jobs to provide support,
though she always had it in her mind to be a
writer.
Garver said he was surprised to learn that Kael
acquired a decent job in advertising in the 1950s,
and the movie tells of her being promoted and getting
her name put on an office door. But she knew
she had to quit, because she’d be giving up her goal
of becoming a writer with her own voice.
Even when she wrote for The New Yorker, it was
only for six months each year, and she struggled to
earn a living wage, supplementing with other work
like speaking engagements.
Kael wrote about film for magazines in the
1950s, and worked to get away from an academic
style and toward how people talk about movies.
The film notes her love for movies of the 1930s and
silent films, and she was passionate about her opinions.
She once broke up with a guy over a disagreement
about “West Side Story.”
The documentary opens Dec. 25 at the Film Forum. (Courtesy Juno Films)
The documentary uses famous film clips to help
tell the story of her life, whether punctuating an
emotion or showing a visual similarity of an event
that happened to her. Garver got the idea as a way
of adding in more fun.
“She had this great sense of humor
and was fun, and fun to read,”
Garver said, “so the movie about her
life should be fun as well.”
There are also interview clips
of Kael, and home movies, and her
writing is read in the film by Sarah
Jessica Parker.
In one interview clip, Kael talked
of women having more presence in
the film industry than the world of
critics, saying that men’s egos had a
harder time accepting that a woman
could be equal when it comes to
using logic and reason.
Over 35 people were interviewed
for the documentary, including
Quentin Tarantino, David
O. Russell, Alec Baldwin, and
other filmmakers, critics and artists.
Tarantino notes that Kael
could change the reader’s opinion
of a film with one smart and subtle
observation.
The film includes some peoples’ opinions that
she could be overly harsh at times in her criticisms,
with some saying she could be cruel and get too
personal.
“She was divisive, and loved and hated,” said
Garver, who added that he wanted to tell an honest
story of Kael’s life, including when people were
hurt by her critiques. “That’s part of who she was
and she was no saint, so I had to show that side,”
Garver said.
Kael was a champion of young filmmakers when
she liked their work, including Scorsese, Spielberg
and de Palma, and her influence made her part of
film movements, rather than just writing about
them.
“She wasn’t just observing it, she was part of it,”
said Garver, who had the idea for the film about
five years ago and said he read her a lot in college.
“It was her voice, her writing voice, she was a different
critic,” he said. “A different writer than any
other critic at the time.” Garver said she wasn’t a
critic but a writer whose subject was the movies.
The movies includes many letters that Kael received
over the years from famous people in film
who read her reviews, with some admiring her and
some otherwise. “But I think there was a respect
there,” Garver said. “She was relentless, she didn’t
back down from her opinions. And she was always
interesting to read.”
Pauline Kael in the documentary.
16 December 19, 2019 Schneps Media