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Phe probably looks a lot like Gandalf now, in his 70s, with his gentle grandfather. But the famous cinematographer Robert Richardson – triple Oscar winner for JFK, The Aviator and Hugo – got the name “white devil” when his long white hair was more unruly than it is now, and the addition of a very loving, handsome and controlling person who made difficult relationships as the romantic director of Martin Stone as well as the male director of Oliver. Quentin Tarantino.
This documentary takes us through his most creative, crazy style in movies like Platoon, Born on the 4th of July and JFK for Stone; Hugo and The Aviator for Scorsese; and Tarantino’s Killing Bill and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. And every time his wives and children, they would leave home for several months while he was away, they must have wondered what their father was doing.
The film is sometimes a little disappointing in what it does not show – but it is often surprising in what it does – and it also tells the story of a Czech film student, Jana Hojdová who wanted to write her own document about Richardson, wrote to him and was surprised when he wrote to her himself, generously shared with her his notes, documents and research materials and gave hours and hours of interviews with Covid. Now he has directed this, an intimate documentary in which Scorsese, Tarantino and Stone are interviewed along with Richardson’s friends and children.
There is a real and painful story to tell. Richardson quarreled with his brother; This conflict occurred after the brother’s son died and Richardson did not attend the funeral, perhaps for fear of being dragged into his brother’s grief, and in any case he was focused on his work. Richardson also compulsively filmed everything going on at home; there are funny pictures of his daughter telling him that he is not there at the time. The dramatic home footage, in 4K clarity, shows Richardson’s dead mother being removed from her deathbed by paramedics; it’s a strange, heartbreaking moment – perhaps almost too strange and heartbreaking considering how little is said about his mother anywhere else in the film. (Even one of his Oscar acceptance speeches was dedicated to him.) It’s a wonderful moment in its own way.
Richardson clashed with Stone when he decided to work with Scorsese, he clashed with Tarantino on another Kill Bill shoot, but got back together with him. What would these male conflicts be like? They can’t be shown here, and maybe as the sausage (or the rules) are being made, the lines of the film directors are something that should not be seen. This respectable, visually appealing and very entertaining story.
