It's On Demand, too, and I just watched it twice, back to back. A comment said in haste very near the end haunts me the most: "How is the end of pretend gonna be? The fear is part of the excitement."
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
I happened to watch it the week before her death. I found most of it very hard to take. It was certainly brave of her to allow cameras in during a difficult late winter of her life, but as a fan of Elaine's,
I'm not sure I learned anything new about her as a performer or woman. Instead, I got to watch her valiantly fight against diabetes, alcoholism and memory loss. And, man, would that film be a depressing introduction to her as I'm sure it will continue to be for many people.
My boyfriend and I saw the documentary in a theater. His only exposure to her before that was 30 Rock. And me talking about what a legend she was and how I wished I had dragged him to At Liberty. We both loved the movie equally. When she died he said he felt as if he knew her for having seen the documentary.
He didn't find it depressing at all, and neither did I. Maybe because we are older and these issues are coming up in our circles.
I thought it was miraculous for the filmmakers to have caught so fully and intimately this time of major change in Elaine's life. How grateful we were to get to see the full person behind the performer's mask. Was it depressing? In part, yes actually. But it was also funny and joyous and a thrilling statement of how a life gets to be lived. The whole package.