The flurry of celebrity documentaries that have sprung up in the wake of (and seemingly inspired by) 2020's The Last Dance tend to be exercises in image management. Unlike the raunchy genre of celebrity memoirs, these are scrapbooks made for the screen. “Steve! (Martin),” a two-part documentary on Apple TV+, avoids some of these pitfalls better than others.
Not completely. Director Morgan Neville dutifully films Martin and co-creator Harry Bliss as they work on a 2022 memoir that tells Martin's career through comic anecdotes, and these moments promote the book itself. There is no other purpose.
But as a project, STEVE! has a lot in common with Judd Apatow's charming multi-part 2018 film The Zen Diary of Garry Shandling. Neville splits this documentary into his two 90-minute parts. The first part delves into Martin's formative experiences and career as a stand-up, and he only appears in archival footage or voiceover. In the second half, we see him on camera today as he ruminates on his many reinventions, including as a film actor, screenwriter, playwright, and musician, as well as his life as a father in his later years. I can.
He is most reflective when describing the evolution of his stage act. If comedy is about building up and releasing tension through setups and punch lines, “I wondered what would happen if we created tension but didn't release it.'' That means, “In the end, the audience will have to choose for themselves where to laugh.''
Martin can be seen on stage, wearing what would become his trademark prop – an arrow pierced through his head – and says to the audience: “Do I look stupid?”
“it was actively It's stupid,'' says fellow comic Martin Mull. “And the offensive stupidity, you can't ignore that.”
Martin first went with the more rugged look of the late '60s, but it never quite clicked. Everything changed, he says, when he cut his hair and put on a suit. “The act looked youthful. So it helped when my hair turned a little gray. I always had to think that adults were doing this.”
This was also Martin's way of distinguishing himself from his colleagues. A lot of comedy in the '60s and '70s was political. Martin went in the opposite direction, framing it as his desire to do something different. But I also think there may be an aversion to getting his hands dirty. The film doesn't directly address this, but later, while discussing his upcoming tour with his longtime friend Martin Short, Martin shakes his head and says “no” to a joke. I shook it. ”
“Well, we a bit It’s political,” Short says.
“Oh, you're right,” Martin replied tentatively, “you're retiring.”
The shortstop doesn't go out at all. “No, I'm just not scared.”
Martin takes this jab with humor, because that's how it's delivered. But it's still an astute observation.
Neville's documentaries include “20 Feet From Stardom'' and “Won't You Be My Neighbor?'' And what he captures here is a compelling dichotomy between the warmth and false innocence of Martin's persona as a comedian and his quiet nature. He can be closed off, shy, and difficult to connect with. Perhaps some of this may have stemmed from a strained relationship with his father and a home that showed no love. (Martin grew up in a single-parent household, but says little about his mother.) Even those who have worked with Martin rarely recognize him as a private person. Sometimes it can seem cold. “I wasn't mean to anyone,” he says. “I was deleted. I was somewhere else in my head.'' He describes his father as a reserved and cruel person, and perhaps Martin has They explained that they decided it was safer to stay indoors, a personality trait that would become their default social interaction as adults.
This was evident even early in his career. In an old clip, the interviewer says: And yet your persona is, “I'm a wild, crazy guy who will do anything.'''' Martin just nods. “Yeah.”
Or, as Tina Fey puts it, “At the heart of almost every person he shows us is aspiration.” This is a clever use of celebrity interviews, and Martin This is because it approaches the essential elements that drive many of his works from the ground up. Jerry Seinfeld appears briefly without adding anything, but it feels like Neville is too obsessed with the stars orbiting Martin's world. he asked at one point. Why make documentaries? “I think this is an antidote to the kind of unpleasant interviews that I've told you a million times,” Martin tells him, and the feeling is telling.
There's also an implied subtext. Now in his late 70s, he may be willing to perform this vulnerable and somewhat unpleasant act, having felt the intimacy of a quietly happy-looking marriage nearly 20 years ago. It's navel-gazing yet thoughtful. Fame and intelligence don't equal — in fact, they usually don't — but Martin is the real deal. He is a complex human being and the documentary captures that in the right way. He has a sensitive side that tends to shrink from criticism (of his own work or anyone else's), perhaps a result of recovering from his father's disappointment. But it coexists with his more acerbic side and an understanding of his emotions such as jealousy, competitiveness, and pointless striving that can simmer beneath the surface. In his 1996 play The Wasp, a character asks: Do you know what luxury goods are? “Luxury goods are things that would be a nuisance to other people if you owned them.''
He used to find great satisfaction in his work, which he says gave him a lot of self-esteem. And then he realized: This leaves a feeling of emptiness and trauma. ”
Artist Eric Fischl speaks in figurative terms about what drives many of Martin's works. He says that when most people have a pebble in their shoe, they take it off and shake the pebble out. “But artists put pebbles there and make art out of them until eventually their feet don't hurt as much.”
“Steve! (Martin) Two-Part Documentary” — 3 stars (out of 4 points)
Where to watch: Apple TV+
Nina Metz is a critic for the Tribune.
