[ts_amazon_link asin=0446584975 title=”Life Itself: A Memoir”]
Very few critics have ever become celebrities—even the hash-stained critics of rock journalism lore were statistically unknown to most people. But in the 1980s Roger Ebert and the late Gene Siskel became TV’s most famous battling Roman emperors, deciding middle America’s film going weekend with thumbs up and thumbs down. Beyond that gimmick though, there was Ebert, an effortlessly talented writer who democratized the nuances of criticism in his newspaper column. Reading those columns in book form as a kid, I learned that “like” and “dislike” could be complex things and that art and commerce weren’t mutually exclusive. Dawn of the Dead was a trenchant consumerist satire, while Fassbinder made personal interpretations of Hollywood weepies.
In recent years Ebert has become as known for his candid struggle against thyroid cancer, which took away his ability to eat, drink and speak unassisted. In a new memoir, Life Itself, Ebert turns his insight to his own life at, and in between, screenings.
Ebert is signing copies of Life Itself Wednesday September 14, 7 pm, free. Indigo, 55 Bloor W, chapters.indigo.ca
Brian Joseph Davis is Toronto Standard’s Book Critic. He also is the author of Portable Altamont and I, Tania, and co-founder of the literary website Joyland.
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Brought to you by the Alliance Film, Drive, in theatres September 16th.
