By Sidney Lumet
A celebration of emotionally intense, politically astute American cinema, BY SIDNEY LUMET offers a superb overview of the late director’s long life and prolific career, narrated by the man himself. Rooted in a lengthy interview recorded in 2008, three years before Lumet’s death, Nancy Buirski’s documentary covers his family history, early brushes with Yiddish theater, and overseas military service alongside his huge canon of groundbreaking TV dramas and classic films including 12 ANGRY MEN (1957), DOG DAY AFTERNOON (1975), NETWORK (1976), THE VERDICT (1982) and more. Martin Scorsese is credited as special advisor to Buirski’s engaging, discursive documentary.
Sidney Lumet
- Notes From Sophie De RakoffI love a good movie about movies, a deep dive into the creative process and a first-person account of how shit gets made. If that’s your jam too then what better way to get to know Sidney Lumet than through a film directed by master documentarian Nancy Buirski? SERPICO, DOG DAY AFTERNOON, 12 ANGRY MEN, RUNNING ON EMPTY, THE MORNING AFTER, THE WIZ, NETWORK, THE VERDICT, EQUUS. So much cinematic iconography packed into one lifetime. Artfully weaving clips from Mr. Lumet’s movies into an unseen interview shot shortly before his death, Buirski leads us through the life and mind of a committed, socially conscious master artist.
