2016 SUNDANCE REPORT DAY 1:
NORMAN LEAR: JUST ANOTHER VERSION OF YOU
Review By Adam Mast
From the creation of “All in the Family,” to his role as an activist, to a writing stint with “South Park” during his golden years, the great Norman Lear might just be the comedy writing icon of our age. With groundbreaking television efforts like the aforementioned “All in the Family,” “Maude,” “Good Times,” and “The Jeffersons” to his credit, Lear would use the power of laughter to take on issues like race, feminism, and abortion head on in a time when such subject matter was deemed too taboo for television.
In “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of Your,” documentarians Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady follow Lear as he records his memoirs. This legendary industry staple is very forthcoming as he takes us on a journey through his reputable career, but he also reflects on the rough times including a relationship with a father her barely knew and how that would shape the man he would become.
There’s a treasure trove of wonderful stuff in this picture, including rare behind-the scene script meetings for “Good Times,” “The Jeffersons,” and “Maude,” as well as affectionate reunion footage of Lear, Mel Brooks, and Carl Reiner reminiscing about the good old days. And, of course, we get dozens of insightful interviews–some current and some archival–with the numerous folks Lear has worked with and inspired through the years. Carroll O’Connor, Rob Reiner, Esther Role, Jon Stewart, Amy Poehler, John Amos, etc. And those names barely scratch the surface.
Ewing and Grady have fashioned an exquisite balancing act comprised of Lear’s professional life, his role as an activist against the “moral police,” and his family life, and they juxtapose it with dreamlike images of a young boy who would eventually take the television industry by storm.
By the end of the picture, it’s perfectly clear that Lear remains an incredibly important figure in television and entertainment in general, but there’s no doubt that storytelling, in turn, saved this man’s life.
JUST ANOTHER VERSION OF YOU–a frame coined by Lear as a sort of motto pertaining to the breaking down of race barriers–isn’t necessarily groundbreaking as a documentary but it is a fascinating, insightful, joyful, and sometimes heartbreaking look at the life of a truly groundbreaking pioneer in the entertainment industry. And if you’re a fan of Lear’s legacy, it’s a must-watch.
