Public Speaking

As a writer, Fran Lebowitz is notorious for a years-long period of writer?s block that, at one point during Public Speaking, she says could more accurately be called a ?writer?s blockade.? However, one thing that the woman has absolutely no trouble doing at all is talking. The hilarious conversations and monologues that fill Martin Scorsese?s documentary on Lebowitz could fill a book themselves. Then again, reading Lebowitz?s acerbic speech would not be nearly as entertaining as seeing it come from her mouth, as she smokes a cigarette morosely and meanders down a Greenwich Village street in one of her iconic tailored suits.

That describes the whole of Public Speaking. It is 82 minutes of Fran Lebowitz talking, whether it is in late-night conversation at her usual booth at the Waverly Inn, onstage with her good friend Toni Morrison, or at a university lecture. With this content, how could the title of the film be anything but Public Speaking? Lebowitz is brash, witty, and full of opinions, all of which she thinks are the right ones, obviously. She is more famous now for sliding through the New York social scene in a cloud of smoke, spouting these opinions, than she is for her actual writing. Public Speaking essentially functions as a Gospel of Fran, allowing her to sound off on such hot-button topics as gender inequality, sexuality, smoking, New York, and of course, writing. ?I like doing this,? she says at one point, meaning the film, ?because it?s what I?ve always wanted my entire life ? people asking me my opinion.??

Even if you do not agree with her opinions, you cannot help but be entertained by them. Fran Lebowitz is uncommonly insightful and intelligent in a world where, as she describes it, the intelligent are considered the elite and thus the enemy. Public Speaking maintains interest for the entirety of its running time because of her refreshingly frank verbosity. Every once and awhile Scorsese cuts into the conversational footage with old video clips, some of Lebowitz, some of her contemporaries who came of age during 1970s New York as she did (Truman Capote, Gore Vidal, et al), some of news footage that sets the stage and the time period as she describes it.

Originally Wes Anderson was attached to direct the film, but I can?t imagine such a prime example of a New Yorker being represented on camera by anyone less than Martin Scorsese.? Both represent that cherished ideal of the old New York art scene, and have a passion for the city that seeps through every scene of Public Speaking. ?The only deal that Marty and I made was Marty said, ?O.K., we will not leave Manhattan,??? said Lebowitz in the New York Times regarding her discussion with Scorsese on how filming would proceed. No subject matter was off-limits, no topics were planned on beforehand?the one solid, concrete, unchangeable condition of the production was to remain in Manhattan. For that agreement alone, you know that there was not another director who could be such a match for Lebowitz.

As a New Yorker, a woman, and a writer, I felt so much of what Lebowitz said on those subjects as ringing true, and said far more eloquently than I could ever hope or manage to do so myself. My personal favorite sound bite: ?If you?re a New Yorker and you get seen by another New Yorker in Times Square, it?s like being seen in a gay bar in the 1970s.? Despite not having been born in New York, one can see that her move to the city was a formative one; New York appears to be Lebowitz?s soul mate, albeit one with whom she has occasional spats and disagreements, usually about the anti-smoking laws (and of course, Times Square).

At some points Lebowitz goes off on such wild tangents that she ends up ending each one with, ?What was the question again?? It doesn?t matter. Public Speaking is one of the most simply engaging documentaries I?ve seen in a long time. There are no fancy camera tricks or animated sequences or oddball storytelling techniques designed to make it have mass appeal. It is no frills, like Lebowitz herself. In fact, I think that Public Speaking does indeed hold more pull for people who are familiar with New York and with Lebowitz than it would for the average moviegoer; hence why it was created for HBO and the kind of audience that premium channel is capable of pulling in. Perhaps that makes Public Speaking elitist in itself; however, I don?t think Fran Lebowitz would have it any other way.

DVD Bonus Features

The special features are scanty on this disc. There are a few deleted scenes with gems that didn?t make the final cut; my personal favorite is Lebowitz describing the life-changing moment that was her first cigarette. There are also two brief snippets titled ?A Conversation with Martin Scorsese? and ?A Conversation with Fran Lebowitz,? both promotional pieces for the film that feature the two talking about working together on Public Speaking.

"Public Speaking" is on sale May 24, 2011 and is rated PG. Documentary. Directed by Martin Scorsese.

Source: http://www.justpressplay.net/reviews/8003-public-speaking.html

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