This entertaining, breathlessly paced film covers Kael's upbringing and career well. Over a hundred photos and clips from movies she reviewed serve as a sort of wallpaper against which her life is flashed.
Among the tons of sound bites from interviews with famous people, there are a good number deeper clips with her highly articulate daughter, shedding light on Kael's motivations and reactions to all was going on in her life.
The film does a good job of capturing an event-filled career that attracted superlative comments, not all of them good. It goes back--lightly--over the major controversies she stirred and gives a sympathetic but not hagiographic account of some of her most notorious foibles, such as finding the good in trash and voicing contrarian opinions of some movie giants. It succeeds best at showing off the unique, amiable character of a groundbreaking, gifted, opinionated, wise, and carefree critic.
Among the tons of sound bites from interviews with famous people, there are a good number deeper clips with her highly articulate daughter, shedding light on Kael's motivations and reactions to all was going on in her life.
The film does a good job of capturing an event-filled career that attracted superlative comments, not all of them good. It goes back--lightly--over the major controversies she stirred and gives a sympathetic but not hagiographic account of some of her most notorious foibles, such as finding the good in trash and voicing contrarian opinions of some movie giants. It succeeds best at showing off the unique, amiable character of a groundbreaking, gifted, opinionated, wise, and carefree critic.