This is something I believe to be true, and not hyperbole. What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael is the best documentary about the life of a writer that I have ever seen. It plays this weekend at the Seattle International Film Festival.

What makes What She Said so great is that it beautifully captures the lyricism of the author in question, while surveying Pauline Kael’s career as film critic for The New Yorker, while not shying away from legitimate criticism but also capturing what made her unique and brilliant. When I left the theater for this screening last week, I wanted to immediately read more of her reviews (and did the first free moment I had).

Pauline Kael became The New Yorker‘s film critic in 1968 and she instantly became a polarizing figure on one of history’s most legendary magazine’s masthead. I never forgot how sharp her criticism was, and how she wasn’t afraid to call bullshit when warranted, even if it went against critical consensus. Watching What She Said, though, reminded me that Kael’s prose was underrated, as some of her most lyrical reviews were excerpted in the documentary and read by Sarah Jessica Parker.

When I left the theater, excited that the SIFF movie I was most excited for exceeded my expectations, I had an e-mail from director Rob Garver in my inbox. It was one of my more surreal coincidences of universe alignment at SIFF. He answered some questions by e-mail.

What was it about Pauline Kael that inspired you to make this movie? 

I read her when I was in college in the 80’s, and her voice always stayed with me — vivid, alive, deep, funny, and never only about the movie, but about the ideas in the movie, the psychology of the characters, or nuances of the actors.  Here was a person who clearly loved what she was doing. It was almost as if you could feel her smiling when she wrote — even in her negative reviews.

The feelings that I had when I first read her were the feelings I wanted the audience to have when they watch my film.  It’s a tricky thing, because of course when you read any writer, the music of their writing is in your head and to some extent, you create it yourself  when you read.

I also wanted to tell Pauline’s own story through the movies themselves, by using pieces of other movies.   Pauline was a child in the 20’s, a teenager in the 30’s, a 20-something in the 1940’s, so I worked hard to find pieces that reflected her life at that time.  She would have turned 100 in a couple of weeks. 

Part of what I loved about this movie is that it captured the lyricism in her reviews, especially having someone like Sarah Jessica Parker reading her words (though I didn’t realize it was her until I saw the credits). I don’t see that often in documentaries about writers (or maybe I’m just still buzzing about having left the theater like 90 minutes ago). How did you go about making that work? 

I’m glad you said that, because that’s exactly what I hoped to do when I set out to make it. It took me four years form start to finish, and part of the reason was finding the right pieces that worked in the right places. A lot of trial and error!

Forgive me for this question. You have some interviews with people that have been deemed “bad” by popular culture/Twitter (Quentin Tarantino, David Edelstein, Woody Allen – you even do the voiceover for Allen yourself). I think the movie is better for including their voices because they had unique takes or experiences with Kael. Was removing them altogether a consideration?

No, they were important to include. Woody actually declined to talk to me, but I found an interview he did on PBS with Pauline from 1975, that was even better, and spoke to their feelings for each other. They were great friends for a time. Edelstein was also a close friend of hers later on, and had an important perspective to include since he worked for the competing Village Voice. And Tarantino and David O. Russell were like me, one of those kids who read her and was inspired by her. Quentin told me he was 15 and kept going back to the same bookstore to read her book because he couldn’t afford to buy it.

What’s your favorite Pauline Kael review, if you have one?

I love her review of “Citizen Kane,” contained within her “Raising Kane” essay.  She really expresses the excitement of seeing that movie, both when it came out, and how it is still exciting decades later.   And she describes how it came out of Herman Mankiewicz’ experiences as a reporter in the 1930’s.

Also, her “Trash, Art and the Movies” essay is a great piece because it really gets at Pauline’s persona as a writer.  It’s personal, and true, and very much still relevant. (also, contained within it are her reviews of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Petulia,” and “The Graduate”).

“Trash” expresses her love of movies most deeply, and she touches on the forces that drive us to want to watch stories in the dark, all the way back to childhood. For me, Pauline really wasn’t a critic — she was a writer, and her subject was movies. 

This movie is playing at SIFF, and you said you’re on your way to Israel to show it at a film festival there. Can you talk about what’s happening with this film after it plays those festivals?

We are scheduled to play a lot more on the festival circuit, both in the U.S. and around the world (Berkshires and Provincetown in Massachusetts, San Francisco, British Columbia, Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand, Portugal, and some others). And my sales agents are finalizing discussions on distribution.  There should be news soon on that.

What did you learn about Pauline Kael that you didn’t already know from making this movie?

One of the biggest surprises of her personal story, for me, was that she struggled so much as a young person to find her niche, and until she was in her 40’s, she always worked at other jobs to make ends meet — until she got the job at The New Yorker.   

In her 30’s, she was actually offered a good job in advertising, that would have meant security and probably some wealth, and she turned it down. She quit when she was promoted, knowing that in taking it, and in succeeding at something she had not chosen, it would trap her, and prevent her from becoming the kind of writer she wanted to be. She was really committed to pursuing her dream, even though she was a single mom.   That was amazing to me.

Is there anything else you want people to know about your film, or you, or Pauline Kael?

If Pauline had a philosophy that could be summed up, it might be —  just because a movie has literary credentials, or takes on a noble subject, doesn’t mean it’s good. She also thought a lot of trash was simply trash too, but her whole thrust was, I think  — give something a chance, don’t just dismiss it because it’s campy or horrific or anything else. There are always unexpected things to find and enjoy if you don’t dismiss them before you get to them. I love that spirit.

{What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael plays at the Seattle International Film Festival on Sunday, May 26 at Pacific Place at 7:00 PM and on Wednesday, May 29, at SIFF Cinema Uptown at 3:30 PM.} 

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