LILY TOMLIN
A Film By Joan Churchill and Nicholas Broomfield
A film review by Billy Green
Copyright 1987 Billy Green
CAPSULE: A controversial, but highly entertaining
documentary about the creation of Jane Wagner and Lily
Tomlin's most recent show, "The Search For Signs Of
Intelligent Life In the Universe." On the stage, we see
Lily touring the country with presentations of a
"work in progress" that opened twenty months later as
"Signs Of Intelligent Life" on Broadway (pun intended :-)).
Off the stage, we see Lily working on the material
with Jane Wagner and with a drama coach, working on the
business of being a comedienne, and just being herself.
First of all, I wish to separate myself from "Enquiring Minds Want To Know" critics who went to this film hoping to see rumors come to life on the screen. I refuse to say things like, "What this film is *really* about is what the film will not show us, and about what Lily didn't want the filmmakers to reveal." Instead, I will focus on what the film shows us, and I will leave the gossip-mongering to the tabloids. The name of the film is LILY TOMLIN. It is a twenty-month voyage of exploration and experimentation. Very little of the film was staged for filming, and that part was done beside Lily's pool. Lily sits in her Edith- Ann-sized chair and fidgets at being interviewed. The impression these scenes left me with is that she is a private person who doesn't like to be asked to perform. When Lily performs onstage, it is because she wants to be there. However, when someone puts her in a chair and says, "What would Ernestine say about this?" (i.e., "Do that voice for us."), she understandably feels pressured. Mercifully, these scenes are few and brief. When they go backstage, the filmmakers ask questions at inappropriate times (like between acts of a performance) and wind up distracting Lily from her work. Inadvertently, they wind up showing us just how seriously Lily takes her work. The filmmakers do their best work by just shutting up and letting the cameras record events. A considerable portion of the film shows Lily onstage during the "work in progress" shows and during the actual Broadway opening night. This shows us Lily at her best. Like a dancer, she makes her work look effortless. However, the film shows us that her work is a long labor, especially when the film shows us the development of the character of Agnus Angst. Prior to this work, Lily and Jane had only ever used this character once. Through the developmental shows and Lily's sessions with a drama coach, we see this character evolve from ideas and words into a genuine, living personality. In this film, we see Jane Wagner finally get the credit she deserves. It is very obvious that Jane does the bulk of the writing of Lily's material, and that control of the script lies in Jane's hands. The magic of these two women as a team definitely shines through in this film. They are a perfectly matched set, and they have the ideal creative situation--the writer who writes for her intended performer, and the performer who performs up to the expectations of her script. The filmmakers were smart enough to show what their intended audience came to see--Lily Tomlin in action. There are several TV clips (including Lily's first TV appearance), and there are many wonderful segments from "Signs Of Intelligent Life". However, the film's title should have reflected that the film is chiefly a "making-of-the-show" film. To name the film after Lily discredits the efforts of Jane Wagner and Cheryl Swannack (company manager--a very visible woman in the film) and everyone else involved in creating "Signs Of Intelligent Life." To name the film after Lily Tomlin is to suggest that the film is going to examine either the star herself or the generalized concept of a show-biz star. What the film actually examines is a process, not just the one person. Don't expect to see this one nominated for Best Documentary next year. It is, however, the most entertaining documentary I have seen in a long time. On the -4 to +4 scale: +2
Billy Green
Carrboro, NC
{seismo,decvax,philabs,akgua}!mcnc!briarpatch!billy
"I worry whoever thought up the term "quality control" thought if we didn't control it, it would get out of hand." --from "The Search For Signs Of Intelligent Life In the Universe"
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews