Life Itself is better when it documents Roger Ebert’s life or interviews notable people about Ebert than when it animates his memoir, which I now want to read. Though it is only a fraction of the story in Life Itself, I think that this documentary should be used as an example of how interracial relationships should be addressed in film and television. Race is not the point of the story, the relationship is. Race is an aspect of the relationship, but the driving force of a good film should be what the couple faces. In Life Itself, the couple faces the erasure of one half of that couple through cancer and ultimately death. I can’t really say that I enjoyed watching Life Itself though it is a good movie. We are literally watching someone disappear before our eyes even though it is also a celebration of his life: bawdy, intellectual, political, passionate. I learned a great deal about Ebert, television production, his role in mentoring/encouraging filmmakers and his very human and imperfect relationships. The only portion of Life Itself that rubbed me the wrong way was not related to Ebert at all, when Rick Kogan (who?) says, “Fuck Pauline Kael” possibly in an enthusiastic but ultimately unnecessary defense of his friend in a needless comparison. Pardon my French, but go fuck yourself, Kogan. There is room at the table for all voices, including yours, and you don’t get to decide who sits there.