After commenting briefly on his "leave of presence" just two days ago, Roger Ebert is gone.
One of my bits of work for the day was to compose something a bit more substantive about just how much Roger's work has meant to me for most of my life. I didn't think that I would find myself composing it under these circumstances. You always want to think that there is more time.
The candor of his last column sounded hopeful, but there was an undercurrent of a General putting on his boots to charge toward the final battle with the vigor he had left.
I had always wanted to meet Roger, whether by attending his Overlooked Film Festival, or somewhere else. I don't feel that I missed out, or that I regret not making a concerted effort to see him though. I knew him from his appearing on my TV in the same way I knew other childhood heroes, from Mr. Rogers to Jim Henson. I knew his spirit and passion from the ink he spilled on the page, whether paper or digital. What Ebert managed to sculpt in a combination of the written word and televised discussion completely transformed the notion of the acceptable forms that film criticism could take.
Roger is the reason I started seeking out and following critics, starting with his partner Gene Siskel and continuing to other greats like Pauline Kael and Andrew Sarris. I discovered and read more critics when internet access (and publishing) took off in the late 90's. I became a devoted fan of Elvis Mitchell's critiques and his radio show. I could seek out the critics who would guest appear on Siskel & Ebert with a few clicks and keystrokes. I discovered sites like Ain't It Cool News that truly democratized the medium and radically expanded the range of voices writing about cinema.
In college, I got a freelance post writing movie reviews for a campus alternative paper. DVD commentary tracks became the new rage among film nerds, and I devoured them. Roger recorded a handful, and they're all golden:
Citizen Kane
Casablanca ("Does this make sense? No, but who cares? It's Casablanca!")
Criterion's Crumb
Criterion's Floating Weeds
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (which is unfortunately OOP)
Dark City
His track on the 2004 disc for Yasujiro Ozu's Floating Weeds represents the primary reason I've become such a dedicated student of the director's work. Ozu's movies have affected my outlook on life in a profound and permanent way. I've gone through personal tragedies and successes that have a sort of sense memory attachment to Ozu movies. I know that more parts of my life to come will further deepen my relationship with Ozu's work. I would have none of that in my life without the work and passion of Roger Ebert. I wouldn't have the kind of appreciation for Martin Scorsese, Michael Powell, Buster Keaton, and countless other cinematic artists if not for Roger.
From Ozu's Floating Weeds
In 2005, I started writing the column/site you're looking at now when it was a part of Hollywood Elsewhere.
I never had delusions of maintaining an audience the size of Ebert's, but that wasn't the point. If my work could influence discovery in 5, 50, or 5000 people, it didn't matter as long as I was doing something to drive the meaningful appreciation of and love for cinema. I obsess over proper aspect ratios, the simulation of grain in Blu-ray transfers, and the proper preservation of our cinematic history. That all started for me with Ebert.
When I sat down to write this, I felt what I'm seeing countless other critics/columnists/writers say they feel on Twitter: I don't know that I can write enough. I'm sure that I could write 10,000 words about Roger if I set down to it, but I wouldn't be finished even if I ended up with a biography the size and scope of Walter Isaacson's one on Steve Jobs. To quote Whitman, Ebert's influence is infinite, it contains multitudes.
The only fitting way I feel I can pay tribute to a man whose work has meant so much to myself and so many others is to continue my work and charge through the end doing work of which he would be proud. Roger Ebert's quest to elevate the art of cinema through the art of criticism deserves no less effort from any of us.