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Tell Them Who You Are

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by Kerry McLeod
On the face of it, this is a documentary portrait of a legendary Hollywood cinematographer. Now in his eighties, Academy Award-winner Haskell Wexler could be said to be in his dotage, enjoying the sort of adoration that comes with lifetime achievement awards and a star on Hollywood Boulevard: so of course the time is ripe to revisit his career in this tribute.

What sets this apart from the standard 'Hollywood legend' documentary (the sort that would be at home in a teatime slot on BBC2) is the relationship between the film's director and its subject. Directed by Wexler's son Mark - himself a successful photojournalist and documentary filmmaker - the film is a multi-layered exploration of the father-son relationship, when the father is a critical, exacting and fiery filmmaker and the son is a grown man who never seems able to live up to his father's very high expectations. Wexler junior uses the conventions of a standard tribute, with clips from some of the classic films his father has worked on - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Bound for Glory, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - plus a plethora of star-studded interviews with people that he's worked with - Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Jane Fonda, to name a few. But really, this is the least interesting part of the film.
Far more appealing are the scenes where Mark and Haskell face each other, cameras at the ready, both shooting from their own point of view; or the scene at a political rally when Haskell advises his son in an aside that he could do with a high angle shot at this point. There's even an ongoing battle of wills as Mark tries to get his father to sign the required appearance release form. Suddenly the film is about something else entirely; it's about a son who wants his father to accept him as an individual, but also to approve, and it's about a father who is brilliant in every other area of his life, but can't relate to his son. This friction - initially understated - gradually builds to boiling point when father calls son into his hotel room, ostensibly to share a revelation of some kind. Instead, the pair clash over where Haskell senior should be positioned for this scene: in the chair he's already sitting in, or outside on the balcony as Haskell junior (and the film's director let's not forget) would rather. Whatever the profound comment was we never learn, as the conversation descends into a full-blown argument. It's a far more revealing portrait of Wexler than the straightforward interview-led tribute film would be. Plus, Wexler junior uses his position to push his interviewees further, asking them blunt questions about his father's reputation as someone 'difficult' and urging them to deal in their reminiscences with his womanising and his volatile temper.

The picture that emerges is of a complex and difficult man, but also one to be admired for his strong principles, his talent and his strong work ethic: in short, extraordinarily human. In turns funny, revealing and achingly moving, this is a film that brings pleasure time and time again. Other chronicles of Hollywood legends become two-dimensional portraits in comparison.
Cert. 15
Dir. Mark Wexler, US 2005, 95 mins
Featuring: Haskell Wexler, Billy Crystal, Michael Douglas, Jane Fonda, Milos Forman, Dennis Hopper, Ron Howard, Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier, Julia Roberts, John Sayles, Martin Sheen and George Lucas

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