And Everything is Going Fine

Directed by Steven Soderbergh, And Everything is Going Fine is documentary about the life and works of monologist Spalding Gray whom Soderbergh had worked with in the 1996 film Gray’s Anatomy. The film explores many of Gray’s works through archival footage and interviews by Gray during his lifetime. The result is a very fascinating tribute by Steven Soderbergh.

Most documentaries about a person always emphasize from the testimony of other people. What Steven Soderbergh does is just let Spalding Gray tell the story himself through interviews, archival footage, home movies, and footage from his many stage performances where he gives numerous monologues about his life. In this film, Gray tells a lot about his life such as his mother’s suicide and how it would affect him in his life. Even through the monologues he gives as it would become something that would get him lots of attention. A lot of it is filled with humor as well as very insightful antidotes about life.

It’s not just the monologues including a very entertaining one where he plays Chumbawumba’s Tubthumping on a little boom box he carries to establish the one moment he and his family were dancing. The interviews that he gives on many TV programs show Gray being more calm and relaxed but also a bit melancholic at times. Even as he talks about his life through rare home movies, pictures, and such that reveal a lot into how he became a monologist. What Soderbergh reveals through the footage is how much of a fun guy Gray is and how intriguing his life is despite some of the tribulations he went through.

With the editing of Susan Littleburg and the post-production sound work of Larry Blake, Soderbergh creates something where he uses the footage to help tell the story and set up a monologue that Gray would talk about such as the car accident he had in Ireland in June of 2001 that would definitely lead to the depression and his suicide in 2004. Soderbergh doesn’t show any footage of Gray’s death but rather Gray’s view on death and the world where he does manage to give himself a fitting way to leave the world. Notably as it’s followed by rare home movies to the some very enchanting music courtesy of Gray’s son Forrest.

And Everything is Going Fine is a terrific documentary film from Steven Soderbergh about the life and works of Spalding Gray. It’s a film that fans of Gray must have to see the man just talk about his own life through a collection of interviews and monologues that are always entertaining to listen to. It’s also a great tribute to one of the most interesting characters in the world as Gray is just a man that has so much to say about everything and does it with a lot of humor and even with a bit of melancholia. In the end, And Everything is Going Fine is an extraordinary documentary from Steven Soderbergh.

Steven Soderbergh Films: sex, lies, & videotape - Kafka - King of the Hill - The Underneath - Gray’s Anatomy - Schizopolis - Out of Sight - The Limey - Erin Brockovich - Traffic - Ocean's Eleven - Full Frontal - Solaris (2002 film) - Eros-Equilibrium - Ocean’s Twelve - Bubble - The Good German - Ocean’s Thirteen - Che - The Girlfriend Experience - The Informant! - Contagion - Haywire - Magic Mike - Side Effects - Behind the Candelabra

The Auteurs #39: Steven Soderbergh Pt. 1 - Pt. 2

© thevoid99 2012