Director Lisa Dapolito digs into the life of comedian Gilda Radner with newly discovered journal pages, audio diaries and home movie footage alongside interviews with Saturday Night Live and Second City alums for Love, Gilda, a charming if incomplete look at Radner's life, career and ultimate death from cancer in 1989.
To many, Radner was the extremely funny character creator known for her work with National Lampoon and SNL. But those who weren't alive (or old enough) during her '70s and '80s heyday might not realize she was about the most famous person on the planet for a time. In Love, Gilda, we learn her journey to such fame and sense of humor stemmed from deep insecurities such as struggling with her weight and concerns about her appearance, but we also discover the deep healing powers of humor and the pitfalls of notoriety and how these things fed into Radner's concept of love up to and including her marriage to Gene Wilder.
Though it's certainly interesting to hear from the likes of Amy Poehler, Melissa McCarthy, Bill Hader, Lorne Michaels and others on the topic, we get a much better idea of how Radner affected other people than we do about the woman herself. Snippets of letters home and journal entries provide some context, but we never really know if she was close with her family after she became famous, if she was unsure of her ability or if she was proud of what she accomplished—though these questions do get raised. Instead we scratch the surface, picking up just enough information to know Radner was always "on," but not getting a clear idea of the specifics.
Clips from television and theater performances round out the film nicely, however, reminding us without question that Radner was immensely talented even as she was often tortured. They don't really make 'em like that anymore, folks, and it's nice that she gets the spotlight again, we just would have liked to learn more about the nitty gritty.
7
+What a funny, amazing woman
-Loose threads
Love, Gilda
Directed by Dapolito
Center for Contemporary Arts, NR, 88 min.
