InRO Weekly — Volume 1, Issue 1

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FILM REVIEWS flattering portrayal of the surviving band members, another example of an estate working to protect its own bottom line — McCarten here flattens Houston into an uncomplicated, easily digestible avatar, and as such, her same-sex relationship early in life, as well as her internalized homophobia, are included but insufficiently explored. Similarly, her spiritual development — admittedly unhip subject matter that few contemporary filmmakers are willing to engage with — is barely given the time of day, in spite of her having been brought up in the church and the film’s penchant for asking characters to use the Bible to rationalize their behavior. Instead, we get predictable gestures, transparently designed to appeal to modern sensibilities: "Yes, I'm exhausted. All Black women are exhausted," complains Houston in a particularly unnatural exchange. While I Wanna Dance's hagiographic treatment mostly relies on the power of the music (or, more specifically, its subject's soaring voice) to generate its few captivating moments, it fails to truly capture the transcendent beauty that made Houston's legendary melisma such an enduring part of popular culture. The singer's legacy needed a corrective after years of being defined by her premature, drug-related death, and regardless of whatever financial motivations led to it, the choice to ultimately not frame her life as mere tragedy, particularly given the genre, is indeed commendable. But it's hardly an excuse for crafting a film that is ultimately this lifeless and dull. — FRED BARRETT DIRECTOR: Kasi Lemmons CAST: Naomi Ackie, Ashton Sanders, Stanley Tucci, Tamara Tunie, Clarke Peters DISTRIBUTOR: Sony Pictures IN THEATERS: December 23 RUNTIME: 2 hr. 26 min. TURN EVERY PAGE: THE ADVENTURES OF ROBERT CARO AND ROBERT GOTTLIEB Lizzie Gottlieb What makes a great writer? Romantics and bookworms might wax poetic about unparalleled emotional insight or the fearless plumbing of the human condition, but pragmatists (and publishers) know the real answer: the secret to a great writer is a great editor. Lizzie Gottlieb’s documentary Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb focuses on the 50-year editorial relationship between two giants of 20th-century letters: Caro, deemed “the greatest political writer and thinker of our time” by his publisher, and his editor Gottlieb, 9
FILM REVIEWS panic mode. As someone who moved home after college partly to sustain an unpaid publishing internship — which never turned into a full-time job — I viewed much of Gottlieb’s archival footage with a certain (perhaps unwarranted) wistfulness. Here are but two bespeckled white dudes arguing about semicolons in a book-lined conference room, and not a federal antitrust lawsuit, employee walkout, or paywall in sight. Ah, those were the days. the luminary who, among other achievements, convinced Joseph Heller to swap out “18” with “22” in the title of his most famous book. As Gottlieb’s daughter, Lizzie has enviable access to both men, as well as a host of other literary titans, industry insiders, Caro superfans, and a couple of former Presidents to share in the memories of its two octogenarian subjects. After quick biographical sketches — Caro’s unhappy childhood, Gottlieb’s unabashed nerdiness — the documentary settles into a pleasantly unobtrusive yet instructive rhythm. In addition to its central relationship, Turn Every Page is part New York City history as told through Caro’s biography of its massively influential and divisive master builder, Robert Moses, and part 20th-century American history as told through his multi-volume biography of President Lyndon B. Johnson. It’s also a slightly rose-tinted chronicle of the golden age of print media. Both men started their careers in the 1960s, long before the Internet’s slurry of free and endless content sent the publishing industry into prolonged An unelected city planner might not seem like the natural subject for a 1,300-page doorstop, but no matter: like Infinite Jest, just having The Power Broker on your shelf, no matter how dusty, oozes intellectual pedigree. No one actually expects you to read it (I myself live with two city planners, and I’ve only ever seen the book used as a laptop stand.) But for its many fans — it is currently in its 41st continuous printing — The Power Broker both cemented Caro’s genius and set the stage for his next multi-decade undertaking: an as-yet-unfinished five-part biography of President Lyndon B. Johnson, who wielded immense political power in profoundly contradictory ways. And every step of the way, Robert Gottlieb was there with his No. 2 pencil (never mechanical!) to wrangle, wrassle, and chisel Caro’s manuscripts into masterpieces. As he wryly states early in the documentary, “He does the work, I do the cleanup. Then we fight.” If all editorial relationships were twice as adversarial but even half as fruitful, publishing executives might have cause to finally stop hand-wringing (and maybe even raise wages.) The timing of Turn Every Page is fortuitous, and not just because its subjects are rapidly aging and Caro is still industriously plugging away at Now! That’s What I Call LBJ. The past few years have enjoyed a renewed popular interest in urbanism as a whole, with the pandemic sparking national conversations about the role of urban spaces post-lockdown; suddenly, it seemed like all the cool kids were discussing Jace Jacobs over their sourdough starters. This interest hasn’t abated: 2022 saw the debut of Straight Line Crazy, starring Ralph Fiennes as Robert Moses (a canny bit of casting for someone who’s often viewed as the Voldemort of modern cityscapes). And given the global political and cultural slide toward authoritarianism, Caro’s stated goal — 10
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InRO Weekly — Volume 1, Issue 1

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