The Brown Bunny spat got a lot of attention at the time because of Ebert's remarks to the press and the fact that Vincent Gallo got upset about it in the media and made comments about Ebert's weight. That prompted the Churchill-esque "I will one day be thin, but Vincent Gallo will always be the director of 'The Brown Bunny'" retort from Ebert. Once you start digging into it, though, a different story comes out. Gallo had to rush the unedited or incompletely edited film to the festival, so the movie Ebert watched on-screen there was not the movie in its finished state, as it was meant to be seen. Gallo later cut 26 minutes out of the film and Ebert saw it again, giving it three stars.
I disagree with his write-up on "The Usual Suspects" which, while technically accurate, misses the fascination with the unfolding story that is essential to the movie. His response doesn't seem in keeping with Ebert's Law, which states that, "A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it." But, I guess if he wasn't feeling it about the tale of Keyser Soze, he wasn't feeling it, and if anyone can make an exception to that rule, it's Roger.
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u/gosassin Jan 31 '14 edited Jan 31 '14
The Brown Bunny spat got a lot of attention at the time because of Ebert's remarks to the press and the fact that Vincent Gallo got upset about it in the media and made comments about Ebert's weight. That prompted the Churchill-esque "I will one day be thin, but Vincent Gallo will always be the director of 'The Brown Bunny'" retort from Ebert. Once you start digging into it, though, a different story comes out. Gallo had to rush the unedited or incompletely edited film to the festival, so the movie Ebert watched on-screen there was not the movie in its finished state, as it was meant to be seen. Gallo later cut 26 minutes out of the film and Ebert saw it again, giving it three stars.
I disagree with his write-up on "The Usual Suspects" which, while technically accurate, misses the fascination with the unfolding story that is essential to the movie. His response doesn't seem in keeping with Ebert's Law, which states that, "A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it." But, I guess if he wasn't feeling it about the tale of Keyser Soze, he wasn't feeling it, and if anyone can make an exception to that rule, it's Roger.