A brilliant, hilarious, exhilarating look at the Gore Vidal v. William F. Buckley paradigm-busting 1968 debates that changed TV journalism for the worse. I’m “biast” (pro): Gore Vidal is one of my heroes
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
This is how much the world has changed (or at least how much America has changed): In 1968, the lowest-rated TV network, ABC, decided to come up with a stunt that would boost ratings of their coverage of the Democratic and Republican national conventions, in the run-up to that autumn’s Presidential election. And what they came up with was this: They gave two of the nation’s most prominent public intellectuals, Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr., ten nights of juicy evening airtime to debate the election and the state of the nation. And it worked: ABC’s ratings soared.
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
This is how much the world has changed (or at least how much America has changed): In 1968, the lowest-rated TV network, ABC, decided to come up with a stunt that would boost ratings of their coverage of the Democratic and Republican national conventions, in the run-up to that autumn’s Presidential election. And what they came up with was this: They gave two of the nation’s most prominent public intellectuals, Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr., ten nights of juicy evening airtime to debate the election and the state of the nation. And it worked: ABC’s ratings soared.
- 7/24/2015
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Mediterranea
Director: Jonas Carpignano // Writer: Jonas Carpignano
Formerly going by A Chjàna, the same title as the short film (see pic above) on which this is based on, Mediterranea has all the earmarks of a being a sizzler of a title that trail-blazes. A filmmaker who is known internationally, Jonas Carpignano saw A Chjàna win the Controcampo Italiano Award for Best Short at the Venice Film Festival and parallel to working on the feature, earlier this year, he won the Discovery award in Cannes Critics’ Week for A Ciambra. With a bevy if support from producers and fund/labs support alike, this received coin and support from the 2012 Creative Producing Summit, 2012 June Screenwriters Lab, 2012 Directors Lab, 2012 Sffs Grant, 2013 Berlinale Talent Campus, 2013 Sffs/Krf Grant Recipient, and 2013 Sundance Institute/Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award. Equipped with what we believe is a set of non-professional actors, we’re expecting a pulsating, detonating and...
Director: Jonas Carpignano // Writer: Jonas Carpignano
Formerly going by A Chjàna, the same title as the short film (see pic above) on which this is based on, Mediterranea has all the earmarks of a being a sizzler of a title that trail-blazes. A filmmaker who is known internationally, Jonas Carpignano saw A Chjàna win the Controcampo Italiano Award for Best Short at the Venice Film Festival and parallel to working on the feature, earlier this year, he won the Discovery award in Cannes Critics’ Week for A Ciambra. With a bevy if support from producers and fund/labs support alike, this received coin and support from the 2012 Creative Producing Summit, 2012 June Screenwriters Lab, 2012 Directors Lab, 2012 Sffs Grant, 2013 Berlinale Talent Campus, 2013 Sffs/Krf Grant Recipient, and 2013 Sundance Institute/Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award. Equipped with what we believe is a set of non-professional actors, we’re expecting a pulsating, detonating and...
- 1/5/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Nicholas Wrathall met Gore Vidal for the first time at the Beverly Hills Hotel. They had brunch on an Easter Sunday while a life-size bunny gallivanted about the restaurant -- a "surreal" experience, according to the director -- but quickly connected over a discussion about the politics of Wrathall’s native Australia. Wrathall's debut feature, the documentary "Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia," opened in summer 2014 with distribution by IFC Films. The project began in earnest in 2005, when Burr Steers, Vidal’s nephew (as well as a producer on the film), told his friend Wrathall that the writer would be moving out of the home in Ravello, Italy that he had shared with his longtime companion Howard Austen since 1972. Wrathall jumped on a plane for Europe, filming Vidal’s farewell to his beloved Villa La Rondinaia and the beautiful Amalfi town around it. It took almost ten years for Wrathall to finish "Gore Vidal,...
- 11/19/2014
- by Jacob Combs
- Thompson on Hollywood
By Mark Cerulli
Writer/Director Nicholas Wrathall turned an introduction to Vidal by his nephew into a rare filmmaking opportunity. The result is Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia, a new, in-depth look at the writer’s long and singular life.
“It took seven years to make,” Wrathall told CinemaRetro, “five years of interviewing him and I benefitted from the time frame because I got to know him.”
The author wrote a number of historical novels including Burr, Lincoln and 1876 along with screenplays, essays and teleplays; but was best known for speaking out, totally unconcerned about the feathers he ruffled along the way. In addition to Wrathall’s interviews, the film makes use of decades of Vidal’s televised appearances – arguing about sexuality in the 1950s, arguing against the Vietnam War and social inequality in the 1960s, stirring the intellectual pot whenever possible. Archive footage shows Vidal’s incredible...
Writer/Director Nicholas Wrathall turned an introduction to Vidal by his nephew into a rare filmmaking opportunity. The result is Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia, a new, in-depth look at the writer’s long and singular life.
“It took seven years to make,” Wrathall told CinemaRetro, “five years of interviewing him and I benefitted from the time frame because I got to know him.”
The author wrote a number of historical novels including Burr, Lincoln and 1876 along with screenplays, essays and teleplays; but was best known for speaking out, totally unconcerned about the feathers he ruffled along the way. In addition to Wrathall’s interviews, the film makes use of decades of Vidal’s televised appearances – arguing about sexuality in the 1950s, arguing against the Vietnam War and social inequality in the 1960s, stirring the intellectual pot whenever possible. Archive footage shows Vidal’s incredible...
- 6/6/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
“Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.” I’m not sure there is a better, or more important, example of someone not giving a damn than the late Gore Vidal, who died two years ago this summer. As a public voice for seventy years, Vidal unforgettably ruffled many feathers, not just as a provocateur, but as an intellectual whose opinions often came well before society was ready to hear them. Vidal was the man who warned about the five-percenters well before they became the one-percent; who stated that “homosexuality is as natural as heterosexuality;” and warned of the “corporate grip on opinion.” He was the controversial author, and more controversial public speaker. Vidal was the man who sparred with Joe Pesci in With Honors, lent his pen to some of Hollywood’s most iconic and notorious films, was close with icons from the Kennedys to wonder-couple Paul Newman and...
- 5/29/2014
- by Monika Bartyzel
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
In capturing the life of a man who deftly re-imagined how we approach history and politics, it is unfortunate that Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia relies so heavily upon such an uninventive documentary format. Combining direct interviews with archival footage, director Nicholas Wrathall is lucky to at least have Gore Vidal's natural charisma as the heart and soul of this documentary.
- 5/27/2014
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
By Don L. Stradley
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
The first image we see in Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia, a handsome new documentary by Nicholas D. Wrathall, is of Vidal at the Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington D.C., standing over what will soon be his own tomb. He’s heavier than we remember, leaning on a cane for balance. He recalls a few friends who are already buried nearby, mentions his “pathological hatred of death,” and ambles away. This is the titan at midnight, crumbling at the edges, still formidable.
The movie’s cryptic opening segues into a respectful, occasionally moving, look back at Vidal’s life. It’s more a tribute than a full-blown biography, for Wrathall presents Vidal as a kind of intellectual colossus, utterly devoid of faults, a near perfect thinker, and the last lion of America’s golden age of liberalism.
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
The first image we see in Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia, a handsome new documentary by Nicholas D. Wrathall, is of Vidal at the Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington D.C., standing over what will soon be his own tomb. He’s heavier than we remember, leaning on a cane for balance. He recalls a few friends who are already buried nearby, mentions his “pathological hatred of death,” and ambles away. This is the titan at midnight, crumbling at the edges, still formidable.
The movie’s cryptic opening segues into a respectful, occasionally moving, look back at Vidal’s life. It’s more a tribute than a full-blown biography, for Wrathall presents Vidal as a kind of intellectual colossus, utterly devoid of faults, a near perfect thinker, and the last lion of America’s golden age of liberalism.
- 5/26/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
The studios are going all out this Memorial Day weekend, with "X-Men: Days of Future Past" and "Blended" adding to a very crowded market that already includes "Godzilla," "Neighbors" and "The Amazing Spiderman 2." And it seems like the art houses are taking a step back in that wake, waiting until the following few weeks to release their biggest summer guns. Of the four indie films that are being released this weekend, expectations are not particularly high. Two ("The Love Punch" and "Words and Pictures") come with star power (Emma Thompson, Pierce Brosnan, Clive Owen, Juliette Binoche), but neither of those films have stellar reviews to help things. The other two ("Cold in July" and "Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia") do have the reviews, but their star power is a little more limited (not to say the late Vidal isn't a star -- he's just not necessarily a box...
- 5/23/2014
- by Peter Knegt
- Indiewire
Despite having his hand in filmmaking, literature, history, politics, theater and more, there's a chance you might not know the name Gore Vidal. A legend on the page, the man is best known for his novels and essays, frequently about America's culture, politics and history. Now everyone will get a chance to become more familiar with the man who sadly passed away in 2012. The documentary Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia paints a thorough and entertaining portrait of Vidal for those who are unfamiliar or may have followed him for years. It looks like a charming profile of a truly gifted, influential writer. Watch! Here's the first trailer for Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia from YouTube: No 20th century figure has had a more profound effect on the worlds of literature, film, politics, historical debate, and the culture wars than Gore Vidal. Anchored by intimate interviews with...
- 5/6/2014
- by Ethan Anderton
- firstshowing.net
A first official trailer has arrived for the doc "Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia," which premiered at last year's Tribeca Film Festival, and now has a limited stateside release set for May 23. Directed by Nicholas Wrathall, the film features candid interviews with the iconic American writer, essayist, intellectual and first-rate feuder. Also interviewed are the likes of David Mamet, Sting, Mikhail Gorbachev, William F. Buckley, Norman Mailer, Jodie Evans and Nina Straight, as commentary blends with footage from Vidal's legendary on-air career to create a portrait of "the last lion of the age of American liberalism." Here's the official synopsis:No twentieth-century figure has had a more profound effect on the worlds of literature, film, politics, historical debate, and the culture wars than Gore Vidal. Anchored by intimate one-on-one interviews with the man himself, this is a fascinating and wholly entertaining portrait of the last lion of the age of.
- 5/6/2014
- by Beth Hanna
- Thompson on Hollywood
Among the many things that Los Angeles-based Film Independent does, besides the high-profile Independent Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, is provide crucial support to independent filmmakers. Every year a select few get chosen to participate in their Documentary Lab, which is designed to help them during the post-production phase on a film. In the past, participants have gone on to complete excellent work, among them Andrew Droz Palermo & Tracy Droz Tragos, whose "Rich Hill" won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, as well as Pj Raval ("Before You Know It"), Hilla Medalia’s ("Dancing in Jaffa"), Nicholas Wrathall ("Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia"), Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali Worrall ("Call Me Kuchu"), Laura Nix and Julia Meltzer ("The Light In Her Eyes") and Nicole Karsin ("We Women Warriors"). Among this year's mentors are editor Doug Blush ("20 Feet from Stardom"), Laura Gabbert...
- 3/17/2014
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
★★★☆☆ The masterstroke of Nicholas D. Wrathall's documentary Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia (2013) is the substantial presence of the man himself. It would, undoubtedly, still make for interesting material even in his absence - he has spent more than enough time proffering his views on page and camera - but wouldn't be quite so enjoyable. It's in Vidal's staunchly held and eloquently voiced opinions that the film truly shines. The director lets the archive footage, famous interviews and talking heads support - rather than overwhelm - the man at their centre as he candidly reflects on his country, life and work.
- 2/20/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
The phrase 'larger than life' could have been coined for Gore Vidal. The prolific essayist, sometime politician and social commentator was never backwards in coming forwards when it came to offering his opinions of life, love and - perhaps, most notably - the political establishment. So Australian director Nicholas Wrathall - whom I met recently during Tribeca Film Festival - took on lot for Gore Vidal: The United States Of Amnesia, but perhaps the biggest challenge of all was to get Vidal to open up about himself.
In fact, Vidal is so reluctant to talk about his half a century relationship with Howard Austen - although his grief for him is acutely shown in scenes where he leaves the Italian house they shared together - that Wrathall had to call on others to flesh out the details.
"He was very reticent," Wrathall admits. "I...
In fact, Vidal is so reluctant to talk about his half a century relationship with Howard Austen - although his grief for him is acutely shown in scenes where he leaves the Italian house they shared together - that Wrathall had to call on others to flesh out the details.
"He was very reticent," Wrathall admits. "I...
- 5/13/2013
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
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