Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time

A must see for any fan of Kurt Vonnegut. Unstick in Time is a labor of love that is over 30 years in the making. Countless hours of never before seen footage made up of not only past interviews and speeches of Vonnegut, but priceless family home films from the 1920's and 1930's make up the glue of what this documentary has to offer its audience. Among this footage includes testimonials from those who knew and loved him in the past, the present and the time to come. This story's message, moral, motivation and meaning are all important to the overall question the filmmaker answers as we are obligated to keep watching all the way to the final credits. A perfect poem to one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.

"I didn't want to be in this film, but I felt I had to explain why it took forty years." I guess all the people who review "it's self indulgent of Weide" are too big *s to get this single line explanation.

I fell in love with Vonnegut's writing in high school, which presaged a lifetime of suicidal depression for me. Anyhoo, this film exactly fits Vonnegut's style and philosophy and it just depresses the hell out of me that other reviewers don't grok it. (lol) BTW one of Weide's films made from Vonnegut's books, "Mother Night" was made for $6,000,000 (estimated) and grossed only $403,701, which explains in part it took Weide so long to return to doing material on Vonnegut, (although he doesn't give these numbers in this film), and why few filmmakers have bothered to touch Vonnegut's material since. So it goes. If you haven't read Vonnegut, you're probably not worthy, sorry I mean interested, of watching this. I don't know why you would bother.

I gave the documentary 5 stars for the footage of Kurt. It should really be 2.5 stars, considering that Weidie features "Weidie's feelings on KVj," and "Weidie proves he really was friends with Kurt" more than he lets us see the author himself. I swear to god, there were several times when Weidie actually talked OVER film of Vonnegut rather than letting us hear what the supposed subject of the film was saying.

It's not that Weidie couldn't have played a role, put himself in here and there. But he is everywhere. He spends so much time showing himself with Kurt it begins to look like that is his only point - that he was there. I almost stopped after 10/15 minutes because I had heard so little about Kurt and so much about Weidie's subject. He draws parallels to Vonnegut's own years-long struggle to write about WWII. I kid you not.

For lovers of Vonnegut, this film is a struggle. For people who want to hear Weidie on Vonnegut, you've found your movie!

An incredible labor of love that should delight and move any Vonnegut fan, and not a bad introduction for those who aren't familiar with him yet. It's a very human portrait of the man, warts and all, not a deep literary analysis of his books, but you will gain some great insights into how some of those came together, especially Slaughterhouse Five. The friendship of filmmaker Bob Weide with Kurt that is the centerpiece of the movie is crucial, a meta element fitting for a film about the guy who did meta (in Breakfast Of Champions particularly) before meta was cool! If any of this tweaks your interest, don't miss it.

I enjoyed this documentary which was 40 years in the making. I have read pretty much all of Vonnegut's works and obviously this focuses a lot on Slaughterhouse Five but shows everything from his early short stories and earliest novels such as Player Piano onwards. The other review complains about the producer (Weide - the other "half a lifetime" I mention) who is admittedly a bit self-indulgent.

But since his bits are a side-story of how a biographer "cronkler" became a friend of Kurt - it fits in. I look at it as Weide is James Boswell and Kurt is Samuel Johnson (albeit funnier). You get the occasional "Life of Boswell" mixed in. I enjoyed seeing Kurt's family past and present as it helps put things into perspective as his life and career progressed (or sometimes stalled). Also the location shots in Indianapolis and Barnstable, Cape Cod with Kurt or his kids were great. I personally got a kick out of seeing the stone building of his Saab dealership where he wrote "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater." I'd say it's a solid 9/10 for Kurt fans and I think entertaining enough of a show for those who may be unfamiliar with his writing.