Must Have This: Film

We are extremely excited that the sun has returned to it's regularly scheduled daily appearance in the Austin sky. More influential minds than ours agree that sunlight is, quite frankly, good for humans in the right amount. And while an occasional grey day can feel pleasantly, if indulgently, melancholic, we will take the warm sunshine, thank you very much.

Something else that lifts our mood quite unlike any other thing is wit. (We attempted to find a study showing that wit also improves one's outlook on life a la sunlight, but alas, our search only pulled up any number of posts with colloquial misspellings of "with" and we perhaps wept a bit for the future of language) A good witticism pulled off with panache instantly reminds us that we (humanity) are possessing that miraculous capacity to think and communicate and, this is the important part, we can do it with humor and intelligence.

It must, then, come as no surprise that we thought it fitting today's Must Have This features one of the best living wits we are familiar with. HBO has released a documentary about the remarkable Fran Lebowitz called Public Speaking and, quite simply, you must see it.



In lieu of previews, we provide you with trailers of this particular film- first a shorter one and then a longer one. Cherish and enjoy.

If you watched, as you should have, the trailers, you will instantly understand why we are so enamored with Ms. Lebowitz. Her matter-of-fact I-can't-believe-you-even-considered-the-possibility-of-my-not-having-a-reply self assurance is as sparkling as it is bracing. We find her remarks about director Martin Scorsese ("Marty") to be of particular bombast/amusement/charm. (And if that particular director's name will encourage you to see this film, so much the better- really, we don't care why you watch it, just so long as you do) Structured more as a rambling dialogue with most of the other partner removed (with some few small exceptions- particularly the exceptional Maya Angelou, a thoughtful tortoise to Ms. Lebowitz's impulsive hare) than a documentary, Public Speaking primes us, the public, on the life of Fran Lebowitz as told by Fran Lebowitz, touching as much on cultural milestones (the AIDS crisis and it's effects we found to be especially revelatory) as she does on personal events. In fact, as we think on it, the film spends less time on Fran then it does on Ms. Lebowitz, public speaker, and the few bits about Fran (her driving habits, her history, her refusal to own a microwave) seem to be there merely as well placed and chosen springboards, launching her into another fascinating opinion or analysis. If we have any criticism with the film, it is that we find it surprisingly short, wishing for just another 5 minutes (and another 5 minutes... and another...) of this fascinating woman.

Public Speaking is currently playing On Demand. We highly encourage, if you do not have On Demand, an interrogation of friends to find some one who does have it.