ROMAN POLANSKI: A FILM MEMOIR

I come to director Roman Polanski with most affection for his early ’58 joie de vivre, the short  Two Men and a Wardrobe, and his ’66 madhouse, Cul de Sac. Essentially a conversation piece between

Polanski and his old friend, producer Andrew Braunsberg, Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir is an intimate, illustrated portrait of the artist recounting incredible, mostly tragic life tales, not omitting the slaying of his

pregnant wife by Manson “family” members, fleeing America from a statutory rape sentence, and being surprise-arrested again recently. Particular weight is given to his devastating early childhood in German-occupied Poland, and his escape from the Warsaw ghetto. There’s something amiable about the simplicity of the film’s production. That’s not to say part of the story doesn’t feel missing, as the child sex scandal is only lightly addressed. Where do feelings towards the art, and the artist converge? The otherwise open

Polanski seems to embrace the crazy amplitude of his life events willingly. (DZ) ***