Spalding Gray and Steven Soderbergh were rather good friends for some time, having worked together beginning with King of the Hill (1993). Soderbergh's latest film, And Everything is Going Fine, is a documentary eulogy and tribute to one of the great American monologists told in his own words. Eschewing title cards, voiceover narration, or talking heads of any sort, Soderbergh and editor Susan Littenberg instead drew exclusively from video recordings of Gray's performances, interviews, and just a few select home movies.
The doc progresses chronologically through Gray's life with occasional jumps backward and forward. I had never seen video of most of his performances, just interviews here and there. I was to have seen Gray perform live in 2004 at Florida State University's Seven Days of Opening Nights, but his body was found shortly before the event was supposed to happen. I joked with a friend who still works at FSU that Gray had gone to extraordinary lengths to get out of his contractual obligations to the school and that hopefully they could show this film so that he would no longer be in their debt.
Gray's now-17-year-old son Forrest composed the score, and it's really solid, unobtrusive work. Gray's widow Cathy said during the Q&A that Soderbergh made the film as a gift to friend he felt he wasn't there for when he was needed the most (after a terrible car wreck in Ireland). I can't think of a more appropriate tribute to Gray than letting him eulogize himself, and he does an excellent job thanks to the selections made by Soderbergh and Littenberg.
As I passed along to Jeff early yesterday, one of the producers answered a question about plans to release Gray's performances on DVD by saying, "We hope to see a box set come out through The Criterion Collection in 2011, but the deal's not done yet." Gray's widow Kathie Russo added "it's a real shame that not even Swimming to Cambodia is out on DVD, so this is a great opportunity to finally get this stuff out there." And Everything is Going Fine is aiming for a November theatrical release, though I forgot to ask through whom.