Joyce Carol Oates: A Body in the Service of Mind
Release date: 2022-09-16
Votes: 3
Genres: Documentary
Prolific writer Joyce Carol Oates has remained intensely private. Until now. Through a long-standing friendship, and persistent inquiry, director Stig Bjorkman is granted unprecedented access to document her mornings of longhand writing, her walks with her husband—to visit her within her solitude.
Reviews
Brent Marchant
Telling the story of a talented and prolific artist can be quite a challenge: What should be included? What should be excluded? And how should the narrative effectively fuse the personal and professional sides of the artist’s life? It’s a task that’s easy to get wrong (and, unfortunately, it happens far too often in many contemporary film biographies). So it’s indeed comforting to see one that gets things right, as is the case with this well-crafted documentary about writer Joyce Carol Oates, author of more than 100 books (many of them award winners) in multiple genres, both under her own name and several pseudonyms. On top of that, though, she has also developed a renowned reputation as a professor and as an outspoken and eloquent liberal social and political critic, both through her writings and social media posts. Writer-director Stig Björkman’s latest presents a comprehensive, articulate and skillfully organized profile of Oates, showing how her meager beginnings played a role in her love of writing and the views she embraced upon coming of age, themes repeatedly reflected in her prose. The film accomplishes all this in a clear, concise, balanced, economically packaged offering, making its points about her public and personal lives without unduly belaboring them and backing them up with voice-over readings from her books by Laura Dern. If I had any complaint about this release, it would be that its ending seems a bit abrupt and truncated, almost as if the filmmaker didn’t quite know how to suitably wrap up the project. There’s really no need for this, either, given that the picture’s efficient 1:34:00 runtime is far from excessive. That aside, however, this is an otherwise-excellent overview of a writer whose works truly deserve all the gracious attention and praise that they receive, providing Oates’s fans with a fitting tribute of the author and viewers unfamiliar with her books plenty of good reason to give them a serious look.
Movie Recommendation
Beethoven's 3rd2000-07-25Everyone's favorite St. Bernard returns in this family film about man's best friend. Richard Newton, his wife Beth and kids Brennan and Sara shove off in their camper for a road trip. Along the way, they gain a new passenger: slobbery Beethoven. The Newtons plan to return Beethoven to his owner -- but not before he turns hero when a pair of thieves enter the picture.More...
Main Krishna Hoon2013-01-25In answer to an orphan boy's prayers, the divine Lord Krishna comes to Earth, befriends the boy, and helps him find a loving family.More...
Kids Return1996-07-27Shinji and Masaru spend most of their school days harassing fellow classmates and playing pranks. They drop out and Shinji becomes a small-time boxer, while Masaru joins up with a local yakuza gang. However, the world is a tough place.More...
September1987-12-18After a suicide attempt, Lane has moved into her country house to recuperate. Her best friend, Stephanie, has come to join her for the summer. Lane's mother, Diane, has recently arrived with her husband Lloyd, Lane's stepfather. Lane is close to two neighbors: Peter, and Howard. Howard is in love with Lane, Lane is in love with Peter, and Peter is in love with Stephanie.More...
Winning London2001-03-27When Chloe and Riley Lawrence are invited to London to participate in the international Model U.N. competition, they enjoy seeing the sights and head over heals romance with cute british boys of course.More...
Return To Earth2023-03-19At the 26th century, Earths core exploded in a mysterious way, humanity was forced to evacuate earth. 65 years later, one of the last survivors spent money on operation return to earth, which has discovered earth is back in shape but in difference by look, other planets gathered around it to give earth air. 2565 is the year we will return to earth. Three pilots from the new Terran confederation space force unit has signed up for the mission to investigate earth. One of the pilots name Li Shuai, on board TCS Macau, discovers a jump point that of some sort of space tunnel that leads directly to earths core. After a brutal attack on the pilots, Li Shuai managed to escape through the tunnel and crash land on an unknown planet, with no idea where he is, at the same time a convoy of 200 passengers waiting for a signal to land on earth. But unknowingly there might be a traitor among them.More...
Maine-Ocean Express1986-04-16"Maine-Ocean" is the name of a train that rides from Paris to Saint-Nazaire (near the ocean). In that train, Dejanira, a Brazilian, has a brush with the two ticket inspectors. Mimi, another traveler and also a lawyer, helps her. The four of them will meet together later and live a few shifted adventures with a strange-speaking sailor (Mimi's client).More...
Fort Apache1948-05-21Owen Thursday sees his new posting to the desolate Fort Apache as a chance to claim the military honour which he believes is rightfully his. Arrogant, obsessed with military form and ultimately self-destructive, he attempts to destroy the Apache chief Cochise after luring him across the border from Mexico, against the advice of his subordinates.More...
The Getaway1972-12-13A recently released ex-convict and his loyal wife go on the run after a heist goes wrong.More...
Sergeant Rutledge1960-05-25Respected black cavalry Sergeant Brax Rutledge stands court-martial for raping and killing a white woman and murdering her father, his superior officer.More...
River of No Return1954-04-30An itinerant farmer and his young son help a heart-of-gold saloon singer search for her estranged husband.More...
Judgment at Nuremberg1961-12-18In 1947, four German judges who served on the bench during the Nazi regime face a military tribunal to answer charges of crimes against humanity. Chief Justice Haywood hears evidence and testimony not only from lead defendant Ernst Janning and his defense attorney Hans Rolfe, but also from the widow of a Nazi general, an idealistic U.S. Army captain and reluctant witness Irene Wallner.More...
Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream2006-06-20From 1970-1977, six low budget films shown at midnight transformed the way we make and watch films.More...
Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu2012-02-10Rahul and Riana meet each other for the first time, get drunk, and awake the next morning to find that they have gotten legally married to each other.More...
Deathtrap1982-03-19A Broadway playwright puts murder in his plan to take credit for a student's script.More...
Out of the Past1947-11-25The peaceful life of a gas station owner is disrupted when a man from his past arrives in town and forces him to return to the dark world he had tried to escape.More...
J2009-07-16A guy locked in a room with no way out. He does not remember anything about himself, his fate is uncertain, but, the most important thing is the reason why this is happening.More...
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance2002-03-29A deaf man and his girlfriend resort to desperate measures in order to fund a kidney transplant for his sister. Things go horribly wrong, and the situation spirals rapidly into a cycle of violence and revenge.More...
East of Eden1955-04-10In the Salinas Valley in and around World War I, Cal Trask feels he must compete against overwhelming odds with his brother for the love of their father. Cal is frustrated at every turn, from his reaction to the war, how to get ahead in business and in life, and how to relate to his estranged mother.More...
Kathleen Madigan: Madigan Again2013-09-11Kathleen Madigan drops in on Detroit to deliver material derived from time spent with her Irish Catholic Midwest family, eating random pills out of her mother's purse, touring Afghanistan, and her love of John Denver and the Lunesta butterfly.More...
Similar Movies
Best Before Death
2019-10-04Bill Drummond, once the most notorious man in pop music, now travels around the world baking cakes, building beds and shining shoes as part of a twelve year World Tour which is his final art project. This film follows him as he does his work in India and the United States.The Garden That Doesn...
2022-07-04Once upon a time there was a garden, a refuge, a safe haven - 'The Garden of the Finzi Continis'. It came to life in Giorgio Bassani's 1962 semi-autobiographical novel recounting an unfulfilled love story between two young Jews in Ferrara, while fascism was raging in Italy in the late 1930's. In 1972, Vittorio De Sica's film adaptation of the book won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Since then, the fictional space of the garden became so tangible that people from all over the world come to Ferrara to look for it. Fifty years after winning the Oscar, reality and fiction come together once more, as we walk through an imaginary garden and bring to life the book, its author, its main protagonists, history, love, friendships and betrayals.Attenborough at 90
2016-05-08In celebration of his ninetieth birthday, Sir David Attenborough shares extraordinary highlights of his life and career with broadcaster Kirsty Young, including the inspiring people he has met, the extraordinary journeys he has made and the remarkable animal encounters he has had across the globe. Joined by colleagues and friends, including Michael Palin and Chris Packham, Sir David shares some of the unforgettable moments from his unparalleled career, from capturing unique animal behaviour for the first time to the fast-paced advances in wildlife filming technology, as well as stories of the wonder and fragility of the natural world - stories that Sir David has spent his life exploring and championing.Great Poets: In Their...
2014-08-10A journey into the BBC archives unearthing glorious performances and candid interviews from some of Britain's greatest poets.Kenneth: Ron Padgett
2016-04-26Ron Padgett (1942- ) is a poet and editor whose artistic career took off during his teenaged years in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There, along with Joe Brainard and Dick Gallup, he produced The White Dove Review, an art and culture magazine. Both Padgett and Brainard serendipitously moved together to New York City, where Padgett studied at Columbia University under the tutelage of Kenneth Koch and interacted with various Beat poets. He has taught poetry at various schools in the City, edited volumes such as the Full Court Press and Teachers & Writers Magazine and written volumes of poetry including 2013’s Collected Poems which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. He also wrote “memoirs” of both Brainard and fellow Tulsan Ted Berrigan.This Beggar's Descrip...
2006-07-19It's a sensitive, moving doc chronicling the life of Tétrault's brother Philip , a Montreal poet, musician and diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. A promising athlete as a child, Philip began experiencing mood swings in his early 20s. His extended family, including his daughter, share their conflicted feelings love, guilt, shame, anger with the camera. They want to make sure he's safe, but how much can they take?Edgar Allan Poe: Buri...
2017-04-29How the inventor of the detective story became his own greatest mystery.Elmore Leonard: "But ...
2021-03-26Elmore Leonard, author of more than 40 novels, is renowned in the literary community. From his westerns and early novels of crime based in Detroit and South Florida, right through his complex and virtually plotless later work, Elmore Leonard dissected an America whose founding sins have continued to haunt it all the days. Leonard’s depiction of America is as real as Twain’s Hannibal, Faulkner’s Mississippi and Steinbeck’s Monterey. The new documentary ELMORE LEONARD: “But don’t try to write” explores the prolific author’s legacy and his influence on generations of writers. The documentary features exclusive images and previously unseen home movie footage, family photographs, and in-depth interviews with both literary experts and those who knew him well, including colleagues, family, and childhood friends.Merton: A Film Biogra...
1984-01-01In his lifetime, Thomas Merton was hailed as a prophet and censured for his outspoken social criticism. For nearly 27 years he was a monk of the austere Trappist order, where he became an eloquent spiritual writer and mystic as well as an anti-war advocate and witness to peace. Merton: A Film Biography provides the first comprehensive look at this remarkable 20th century religious philosopher who wrote, in addition to his immensely popular autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain, over 60 books on some of the most pressing social issues of our time, some of which are excerpted here. Merton offers an engaging profile of a man whose presence in the world touched millions of people and whose words and thoughts continue to have a profound impact and relevance today.Everything About Mart...
2022-08-03This film is not a classic portrait but a documentary using fiction to bring Martin Suter’s novels to life while introducing us to the author behind the stories on a whole new level. ‘Fantasy is usually more true than reality itself’ says Suter.Philip Roth Unleashed...
2014-05-20After Portnoy's Complaint launched him as a new literary voice, not to mention a scandalous one, Philip Roth went on to be hailed by many as America's greatest living writer. Never afraid to look hard at the extremes of human experience, he has been both consistently controversial and intensely private. But now, having celebrated his 80th birthday in his home town of Newark, New Jersey, Roth, in conversation with Alan Yentob, is ready to tell the whole story in this special two-part film for imagine... Philip Roth Unleashed.Full Tilt Boogie
1998-07-31A documentary about the production of From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) and the people who made it.Dreams with Sharp Tee...
2008-06-04The documentary story of Harlan EllisonThe Capote Tapes
2021-09-10A portrait of the brilliant American writer Truman Capote (1924-84) and the New York high society of his time.Incomplete Sentences
2022-06-25Aslı Erdoğan, world-renowned author and activist, has fallen into silence after she fled to Germany. Incomplete Sentences is a feature documentary on her literature and life, leading to exile in Frankfurt, after the Turkish regime’s oppression results in her unlawful imprisonment. Now, she struggles in exile while everybody is waiting for her to write again. Right after getting out of prison Aslı starts telling her story to the director, wandering in the streets of Istanbul she recites parts from her books and explains the stories behind. When Aslı goes to Germany to receive the Erich Maria Remarque Award she cannot return; thus her exile, which she likens to a semi-open prison, begins. As her health deteriorates and keeps her from writing, the tragedy in her books becomes her own reality.Arthur Miller: Writer...
2017-12-08One of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century, Arthur Miller created such celebrated works as Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, which continue to move audiences around the world today. He also made headlines for being targeted by the House Un-American Activities Committee at the height of the McCarthy Era and entering into a tumultuous marriage with Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe. Told from the unique perspective of his daughter, filmmaker Rebecca Miller, Arthur Miller: Writer is an illuminating portrait that combines interviews spanning decades and a wealth of personal archival material, and provides new insights into Miller’s life as an artist and exploring his character in all its complexity.Joan Didion: The Cent...
2017-10-11Griffin Dunne’s years-in-the-making documentary portrait of his aunt Joan Didion moves with the spirit of her uncannily lucid writing: the film simultaneously expands and zeroes in, covering a vast stretch of turbulent cultural history with elegance and candor.I Am Alfred Hitchcock...
2021-05-02Interviews and archival footage weave together to tell the story of the Master of Suspense, one of the most influential and studied filmmakers in the history of cinema.Jack Kerouac's Road: ...
1987-03-01Part documentary, part drama, this film presents the life and work of Jack Kerouac, an American writer with Québec roots who became one of the most important spokesmen for his generation. Intercut with archival footage, photographs and interviews, this film takes apart the heroic myth and even returns to the childhood of the author whose life and work contributed greatly to the cultural, sexual and social revolution of the 1960s.William S. Burroughs:...
2010-11-05A riveting and emotional journey into the world of writer William S. Burroughs, a man considered as cold as an iceberg on a winter night.