Tell Them Who You Are (2004/2005)
"Yeah, we talk a lot more now."
- Mark Wexler talking about his relationship with
his father at SXSW in March 2005.
A couple of years ago, Nathaniel
Kahn made a documentary about his father, architect
Louis Kahn, called "My Architect." This film could
be called "My Cinematographer."
Made by Mark Wexler, himself an
established photojournalist and documentarian, "Tell
Them Who You Are" is about his father, noted cinematographer
and filmmaker Haskell Wexler. The elder's 1969 film
"Medium Cool" is considered one of the ultimate films
of the 60's new wave, protest films. Wexler shot in
real settings where real protests were occurring using
actors interacting with the real people there.
Wexler also shot an amazing amount
of good films including "Who's Afraid of Virginia
Woolf?" "America, America," "In the Heat of the Night,"
"Bound for Glory," "Coming Home" and a handful of
films for John Sayles. At 81 years old, Wexler, the
elder, shot Sayles most recent work, "Silver City."
But while Wexler, the junior, does
include some information and images from his dad's
work, he is much more interested in playing psychological
mind games with his strong-willed father in this film.
And it gets tiresome quite quickly. This is a "Family
Ties" scenario gone as wrong as it possibly could.
Wexler, the elder, is a noted liberal with a ton of
protest films under his belt and his son, the man
with the camera here, is an asshole conservative who
sets out to make his genius father looks silly and
paranoid. Sometimes you just want to smack the fuck
out of this kid.
Wexler, the elder, puts up with
this junk by adopting a sort of Leni Riefenstahl approach
to this supposed documentary about his life. He fights
the director tooth and nail on how the shots should
be set-up and how the documentaries should be approached
as Riefenstahl did with Ray Muller when he shot "The
Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl." It
makes for fascinating viewing to see this father and
son miss out on important sharing opportunities when
they bicker for 15 minutes on where the shot should
take place, indoors or out.
But when junior puts aside his political
agenda and his psychological hatred and jealousy of
his father aside, the film can be quite interesting.
Watching Haskell with Mark's mother, a victim of Alzheimer's
disease, may be manipulative and obvious, but it is
also captivating and heartbreaking. It's the most
amazing scene in the film. Also of note is the interviews
with Jane Fonda and, to a much lesser extent, Michael
Douglas, both of whom have worked with Haskell. (I'm
sure you've noted I've abandoned the "elder" and "junior"
moniker and simply switched to first names). Fonda
and Douglas both come from families with a well-known
father and both staked a claim of independence from
their matriarch in show business. Fonda's story, juxtaposed
against Mark's is quite interesting and complex, especially
when you consider that Haskell shot "Introduction
to the Enemy," a film that exposed Jane Fonda as a
supposed Vietnamese sympathizer, much to her father's
chagrin.
"Tell Them Who You Are" works because
Haskell is such an amazing subject and Mark is allowed
to interview a ton of people who have been associated
with him including Martin Sheen, George Lucas, Julia
Roberts, Milos Foreman, Lee Tamhori, Sayles, Sidney
Poitier, Paul Newman, Norman Jewison, Billy Crystal
and fellow cinematographer and family friend, the
late Conrad Hall. These interviews coupled with Haskell's
amazing story makes all the crappy pseudo-psychology
junk in the film negligible. In the end, Mark Wexler
only gets a great film because of who he is. His work
here is nothing without his father.
And maybe, as with all out fathers,
that exactly how it should be.
Notes:
With several film clips of movies
both the Wexler's have worked on included.
Dedicated: "In Memory of Conrad."
The film has been acquired by Thinkfilm
who are probably going to release it in July 2005,
presumably transferring it to 35mm.
Viewed at SXSW in March 2005.
