By Shannonn Kelly
This morning I’ve been enjoying the Chicago Sun Times Blogs from Chaz Ebert and her experience at the Cannes Film Festival. She has two great blogs which I’ll share in a separate post on my blog.
They’ll never remember it, but I personally met Chaz (an impressive film buff in her own right) and Roger Ebert.
I was at the 1995 Toronto International Film Festival. I came up from New York to TIFF to write about it and of course see a ton of films on my student film festival pass.
We had all just seen the Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell film “Four Rooms” and as I was leaving the since demolished Uptown Theater in Toronto, I realize Nicolas Cage, then wife, Patrica Arquette (whom I loved ever since True Romance and looking ever so lovely) and I are leaving through the same door at the same time.
I looked up at Nicolas and said, “I’m sorry excuse me”. He said “No, excuse me”, smiled, and waved his hand for me to pass first. I briefly looked at him one more time at the great smile and that gorgeous aquiline nose and said, “Thank You”.
I have a huge (professional and red-blooded girl) crush on Nicolas. So at any other time, I would have been nuts not to get a little more face time with him. However, I really, really wanted to stay close to my first movie idol, Roger Ebert.
There were about 8 of us crushed together in our group walking down the street, with throngs of more people rushing through and between us to the closing night gala. Our group was still talking about Four Rooms.
Chaz had on a pashmina, (dark pink or magenta) I believe, and Roger and Chaz were holding hands and smiling. I just remember thinking I was so happy he found love. They looked great together.
We chatted back and forth as a group about the different performances. We all agreed we liked Tim Roth as the bell hop on a night shift in hell and Antonio Banderas in the Misbehavers segment, when Roger quipped, “It should have been called 3 Rooms and what was Tarantino doing”.
Now mind you, this is a memory from a little over 12 years ago, so the first part of the quote is verbatim and maybe I threw the Tarantino bit in. But the fact that we all laughed together was a dream come true for me. Roger and me shared a joke and clicked for one brief moment in time.
As a quiet kid, I was a PBS fan. In my mind, that’s where the best shows were broadcast. Sesame Street and the Electric Company were my favorites.
But then one weekend, I grew up. I happened upon two men talking about movies. Actually it seemed more like verbal combat.
Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert appeared in a show called, “At the Movies” which eventually became known as “Siskel & Ebert At the Movies”, which most people eventually referred to as “Siskel & Ebert”.
I don’t remember the year, but I remember the both of them and how they talked about movies. They talked with big words, big opinions and big passion. Some times I was worried that as the discussions became so heated, that they were going to punch one another’s lights out.
Watching Siskel and Ebert, made me feel okay about movies having strong effect on me. Sure, I was watching movies way beyond my years or level of comprehension, but nevertheless, the movies I snuck out to watch made an enormous impact on me.
As time went on, film became my savior so to speak. I was able to sit somewhere in the dark and look up at the screen and know that while everything was happening on screen, I myself was safe and secure in the dark. I eventually began to devour films sometimes going to see 6 a day when I didn’t have school or exams or other stuff to worry about.
When Gene Siskel died in 1999 from complications of a brain tumor (an illness which he kept very private until his death), I cried. I just knew was going to miss him. I never knew if he and Roger were friends, but when I look back at DVD’s of their appearances on talk shows, I like to think that they were.
When Roger became ill and diagnosed in 2002 with thyroid cancer, I became immediately worried. I flashed back to Gene and his illness and wondered how far along Roger’s diagnosis was- when in 2003 Roger was diagnosed for cancer again, this time in his salivary gland.
All the while, Ebert continued to critique films, not missing a single opening weekend while undergoing treatment.
Cancer had hit my life hard around that same time when someone I very much adored died swiftly of cancer. I felt like cancer was all around me. I kept a close watch on the Ebert story and kept wishing the best for him.
Roger underwent further surgery June 16, 2006, just two days before his 64th birthday, to remove cancer near his right jaw and a section of jaw bone. He was then hospitalized in another serious incident when his carotid artery burst near the surgery site and Roger “came within a breath of death”.
This time I thought of Chaz and what she must be going through. I thought of them holding hands and laughing while walking down the street and now she was probably holding his hand crying. “How do I get in touch with Chaz?” I thought. I’m no one. My condolences will just be another in the pile. But I wanted her to know how much I cared about what she was going through and what Roger was going through.
Roger is my film hero. Most people think it’s Jimmy Stewart. But Roger is my film hero/mentor. He has this uncanny ability to talk about film like a scholar and an ardent film buff at the same time. He’s doesn’t love the sound of his voice (as many critics do), Roger loves the sound of a films’ voice.
I’m glad to see the rest of the world has caught up with me and has embraced the importance of the Roger Ebert contribution to film. He’s the first film critic to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2005). More importantly and equally satisfying; Ebert is also the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.
Ebert has described his critical approach to films as “relative, not absolute”. When he reviews a film, his review is for its prospective audience, with at least some consideration as to the films’ value as a whole.
In my mind it’s the most reasonable way to view and review film. It’s what I’ve adopted as my assessment style. I want to give credit for the film being made in the first place; and try to find a nugget of value (sometimes even this can be a chore) in the finished product of even the worst films I see for ReelHeART.
I wish the best for Roger and hope to see him again healthy and vibrant very soon.
When I saw the Sun Times blogs this morning and realized it was Chaz Ebert writing them, they looked more like love letters to her husband Roger Ebert. I was happy for her. Happy that Chaz could take Roger with her to Cannes and carry him in her heart…
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