Blowhard, Esq. writes:

Co-directed by Scorsese and David Tedeschi, this is Scorsese’s second documentary chronicling the intellectual and cultural life of New York. Although I enjoyed Scorsese’s PUBLIC SPEAKING, a profile of Fran Leibowitz which I thought was a good evocation of a writer’s life in 70s and 80s NYC, ARGUMENT struck me stodgy, worshipful, and dull.

A celebration of the the New York Review of Books, the film is less a history of the publication and more like a greatest hits anthology. Scorsese and Tedeschi mix footage of co-founder and editor-in-chief Robert Silvers at work (making phone calls, dictating emails) with scenes filmed at the publication’s 50th anniversary party in 2013 along with the usual talking head reminiscences by contributors like Zoë Heller, Ian Buruma, Mary Beard, Mark Danner, and Michael Chabon. The movie recalls the NYRB’s combative glory days in the 60s and 70s with entertaining glimpses of Gore Vidal v. Norman Mailer, Susan Sontag v. Mailer, and a room full of angry women v. Mailer. But the film is tied together thematically by scenes in which some of its most notable writers read from their signature pieces, for example Sontag on photography, Joan Didion on the Central Park 5, and Derek Walcott on Robert Lowell. They read extended excerpts, up to three minutes long, while the filmmakers illustrate the narration with archival photos and pull quotes. However, the directors don’t provide much context for these scenes so it’s easy for the audience to tune out. And do we really need two segments, one three minutes long the other four and a half, of Darryl Pinckney droning on about how influenced he was by James Baldwin?

At a time when venerable East Coast literary brands like The New Republic and The Atlantic are devolving into clickbait farms, I appreciate that Scorsese and Tedeshi want to honor an institution that has resisted New Media trendiness. In the scenes of Silvers working, the only thing that makes his job look different from photos taken decades ago is the presence of a Mac; both then and now the primary feature of his workplace are stacks and stacks of books. The NYRB blog is mentioned, but the blog’s editor is quick to note that one contributor is so helplessly maladroit with technology that he faxes in his posts. One shot prominently features the book Social Media is Bullshit in case the point isn’t being driven home. But despite the parade of luminaries recounting the paper’s highlights, I don’t think the documentary adds much that can’t already be gleaned from the paper’s Wikipedia entry.

THE 50 YEAR ARGUMENT is currently streaming on HBO Go.

Related

• Outside of spines glimpsed in the background of some of the talking head segments, the documentary ignores the paper’s book imprint, NYRB Classics, which has done a great job of bringing some wonderful and neglected titles back into print.
• After reading PR’s review, I also watched SIDE BY SIDE which I enjoyed far more.
• ICYMI, Fabrizio’s excellent piece on Errol Morris’ THE UNKNOWN KNOWN.