a SIFF 2010 review
Fascinating Rivers a Doc Worth Talking About
Can’t say I was all that excited to watch Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. It’s not like I’ve ever been a huge fan of the comedian, pitch-woman, fashionista and all around loud-mouthed celebrity. Even as a kid she always seemed to drive me up a wall, and even with a late career resurgence (she won “Celebrity Apprentice” in 2009 don’t you know) she just hasn’t done a lot to interest me. Can we talk? No, not right now, but thank you for asking all the same.
Joan Rivers in Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work © IFC Films
The greatest thing about Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg’s (The End of America) riveting documentary is that it makes me rethink every last statement I just made above. The film follows Rivers over the course of a year, examining her enthusiasm to keep going as well as her historical significance as both a comedian and an icon, and by the time it was over I was perilously close to calling myself one of her fans.
What struck me most about Rivers was her drive. She unapologetically lives the high life and freely admits she’ll take any and every job thrown her way (a hugely funny bit involves her talking to one of her agents on the phone offering up suggestions as to way she’d be the perfect pitchwoman for Extenz, and if you don’t know what that is I’m not about to explain). She performs shows in Las Vegas on off-weekends, in the frigid Minnesotan tundra and everywhere else in-between, offering up her blunt and filthy brand of humor to audiences she can only hope are going to be eager to laugh at it.
Some of the best moments involve her quick-wittedly shouting comebacks towards a heckler during a casino gig, her fury mixed with honestly emotional sympathy as she recollects the showdown on the ride to the airport immediately afterwards. I also loved the candidness behind her reasoning to do “Celebrity Apprentice,” a show she holds little to no respect for, Rivers more than willing to suffer what she sees as the indignity of appearing if only because it will end her decades-long absence from NBC.
There’s a lot more, including archival footage of Rivers’ early career (including her numerous appearances on and guest stints hosting “The Tonight Show,” her complex relationship with Johnny Carson one of the reasons for her eventual blacklisting from NBC) that’s hugely fascinating. Overall, however, it is the way Stern and Sundberg are able to focus on the personal aspects of the performer’s journey that holds the most resonance, her life story one of so many bumps, bruises rises and falls it’s almost unbelievable.
But it all happened, the truths of the film so indisputably poignant I’m aghast at just how much they moved and intoxicated me. If Rivers does work on into her 90’s like the great George Burns I for one will not be surprised, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work a superlative glance at the life and times of an iconic and groundbreaking woman deserving of more respect than she’s sadly probably going to get.
Film Rating: êêê (out of 4)
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