Norman Mailer – novelist, journalist, critic, prophet, filmmaker, raconteur, and headline-maker – has been a major figure on America’s cultural scene for six decades; it can be said that he is the most controversial and bestselling author of the 20th century. Literary critic Richard Poirer praised Mailer for trying “so resolutely and so successfully to account for the eclecticism of contemporary life when it comes to ideas of form, of language, of culture, of political and social structure, and of self.” This documentary directed by Jeff Zimbalist addresses all those aspects of Mailer’s life – and more!
The film is organized chronologically around events in Mailer’s life that reveal his adherence to his rules for coming alive. These include:
- Don’t be a Nice Jewish Boy
- Act Stronger Than You Feel
- Don’t Feel Sorry for Yourself
- Never Let Life Get Too Safe
- Be Wrong More Than You Are Right
- Grow or Else Pay More for Being the Same
- Be Willing to Die for an Idea
Mailer himself expounds upon his accomplishments and also areas where he fell short of what he could have been. He admits to having both good and bad in himself. He was married six times and had nine children, six of whom are interviewed in the documentary. They appear to adore him. The film includes never-before-seen footage, outtakes, audio recordings, and interviews from throughout his life.
His critics are also interviewed, shedding light on why his work invariably attracted attention, either praise or blame. He attacked American society relentlessly but always with good reasons and plenty of details. He encouraged his readers to become politically and culturally engaged. As part of the “new journalism trend” – his Armies of the Night about the 1967 March on the Pentagon is a good example – he made himself a character in his books.
It is impossible to succinctly review an expansive documentary on an extraordinary life. So we’ll close with a comment we noticed in a review for Variety by Owen Gleiberman on how people might react to the film:
"How to Come Alive with Norman Mailer holds surprises even for Mailer fans. Yet as much as Mailer, with his braggadocio and heady male swagger, may not seem like he fits snugly into this day and age, I strongly suspect that if you’re a young person who’s a reader and you’ve never read a word that Norman Mailer wrote and you saw this movie, you’d be looking up one of his volumes within a day. And if you started to read it, you’d have the sensation that so many of us have had. You’d be hooked.”