“I’ll see you at the movies.” These were the last words written by iconic film critic Roger Ebert, who passed away April 4 after struggling for years with thyroid cancer. Ebert was the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize, gaining as much fame as the films he critiqued. Here’s what a few writers at the Daily Bruin had to say about the legendary critic:
Countless times have I been in what I call the “movie honeymoon” period – the few days after watching a movie you like where you feel it’s the most perfect piece of art known to man – only to be disenchanted by a Roger Ebert review, stripping my week’s favorite of its holiness. I prematurely and rather immaturely cast him as a critic for the critics, but as I delve deeper into his work, I realize just how much he was a critic for the common man.
Mr. Ebert’s philosophy was simple: “It’s not what a movie is about, it’s how it is about it.” He delved into the psychology of a movie goer, and reviewed each movie relative to its role and purpose, not to any absolute standard. It wasn’t always his absolute rating that mattered to me, but rather how he approached it. His words would talk to me, not from a pedestal, but with a leveled authority and confidence in his opinion that would command my respect.
I use “would” and “was,” but in many ways, he still is. As I sit here reading, miserably in disagreement but undeniably in awe, Mr. Ebert’s review of “Django Unchained,” I know he still is, and will always be with me. His “Great Movies” lists are artfully clever and his “Most Hated” lists hilariously caustic, but it’s the earnestness in his critiques of all films, no matter their genre, style or reception, that inspires me to write not just from my head, but from my heart.
-Aalhad Patankar
Mr. Ebert’s writing improbably haunts mine.
It’s a miracle that his writing influences me so: I was born well past the heyday of Siskel & Ebert, and I didn’t have any inclination for film criticism until my late high school years. And even after my love for cinema bloomed, I took him for granted.
Over the years I’d almost grown weary of his style: gentle, middlebrow, stubbornly generous. I read him sporadically, and mostly for his “Great Movies” pieces; in temperament I preferred the more opinionated, academic, “highbrow” critics, whose opinions blazed holes in mine.
But if I dug deep into my critical codes – my basic instincts – he lingers at every impulse. “It’s not what it’s about, it’s how it’s about it.” “No good movie is depressing, all bad ones are.” “Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you.”
He was never a harsh critic, no matter how popular his one-star reviews are. He was unwaveringly and unusually devoted to the love of cinema – not just his own appreciation of it, but a larger love of moviegoing, an earnest and fervent desire to impart his love to everybody. He was inclusive and inspired inclusiveness; both popcorn flicks and Yasujiro Ozu had a place in his heart. He was, and will be, the spirit of film criticism.
See you at the movies, Mr. Ebert.
-Tony Huang
As a child who watched “At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper” religiously, being too young to have enjoyed the legendary sparring bouts between Siskel and Ebert, I would pinpoint the show as a launching point for my interest in film criticism. Jokingly, friends and family would occasionally call me “the next Roger Ebert” when I went off on film-related rants and arguments. I suppose now I can be.
He did not judge movies he saw explicitly on their quality, but on their entertainment value. Very few critics understood the mentality of the moviegoer like Ebert did, and almost none could woo it with as much interest and depth. It warms my heart to know the last review he wrote was for “To the Wonder,” a film by Terrence Malick, a director he so highly respected.
Even more notable than his professional achievements, however, was his quality as an all-around person. Ebert loved his work, his wife, his lifestyle, and the people he met. At a time in my life when progress is fast and change is frightening, a favorite quote from Ebert’s “Life Itself: A Memoir” gives me peace.
“I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. … I didn’t always know this and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.”
-Sebastian Torrelio