And Everything Is Going Fine

Spalding Gray (1941-2004) occupied a special entertainment niche as a monologist. The sheer genius of his raconteur talent led to his one-man shows becoming the subject of three feature films, including Steven Soderbergh's 1996 Gray's Anatomy. Soderbergh returned to Gray's work with this 2010 documentary, which harvested performance highlights and interviews from nearly 90 hours of footage. Gray's monologues were primarily autobiographical—presented with a unique combination of frankness and warmth—focusing on his family history (particularly his emotionally disturbed mother's suicide) and his own battles with depression. Gray's command of the language, trenchant observation skills, and ability to shape melancholic and often painful personal stories into compelling and unexpectedly funny odysseys resulted in amazing dissections of wider society and his own perceived failings. Arguably, his finest work was the collection of anecdotes and incidents from his experience as a supporting cast member of The Killing Fields, which resulted in Gray's 1985 stage breakthrough Swimming to Cambodia, adapted into a film by Jonathan Demme in 1987. While Gray himself never shied away from difficult subject matter, Soderbergh unintentionally creates an absence of closure by not directly addressing the mystery of Gray's death—his body was found in New York's East River after he was declared missing by his family, and he is believed to have committed suicide by jumping from the Staten Island Ferry. Extras include a “making-of” featurette, Gray's 1982 first monologue—Sex and Death to the Age 14, and a booklet. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)