The Windmill Movie (2008)

86% of critics liked it
(22 reviews)
53% of users liked it
(1,553 ratings)

As conceived and edited together by Alexander Olch, this documentary pays homage to the life of the late filmmaker and professor Richard P. "Dick" Rogers (Pictures from a Revolution). Director of the Harvard University Film Study Center, Rogers died in July 2001. He left behind boxes upon boxes of… More As conceived and edited together by Alexander Olch, this documentary pays homage to the life of the late filmmaker and professor Richard P. "Dick" Rogers (Pictures from a Revolution). Director of the Harvard University Film Study Center, Rogers died in July 2001. He left behind boxes upon boxes of footage intended for an unrealized autobiographical film; working together with Rogers's wife and creative partner, Susan Meiselas (who assumed the role of producer here), Olch began assembling the footage in its intended form. The resultant work sits poised halfway between fiction and documentary; it employs a linear chronology that spans Rogers's life, from his youth to his premature passing from melanoma at the age of 57. Olch uses the loosely-knit footage to meditate, pensively, on the nature of film, art, and the cycle of life, as well as Rogers's need to create for the sake of progeny. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 20 min.
Directed By: Alexander Olch
Genres: Documentary, Drama, Special Interest

In Theaters: Jun 17, 2009 Wide
On DVD: Mar 22, 2011
Studio: Film Forum

Critic Reviews

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
A remarkable documentary attempt to reconcile Rogers's sense of personal, professional, and artistic malaise, which culminated in his decades-long attempt to make a film about his life.
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
Olch doesn't make it easy to identify with Rogers and his stylish existence, but that choice begins to pay off gradually as the fragments start to add up to something more.
Rafer Guzman, Newsday
The examined life may be the only one worth living, but as The Windmill Movie profoundly illustrates, it's no guarantee of happiness.
V.A. Musetto, New York Post
A warm portrait of the fascinating Richard P. Rogers, an experimental filmmaker.
Stephen Holden, New York Times
The Windmill Movie is a version of the autobiography of Richard P. Rogers that might have been.
Melissa Anderson, Village Voice
In finishing what was left undone, Olch's tribute to his mentor is more an act of hubris than humility.
Sarah Boslaugh, Playback:stl
A better question, it seems to me, is not whether one has a right to complain about one's life, but whether or not one can make an interesting film about it. There's not much evidence here that Rogers would ever have succeeded...
Jennifer Merin, About.com
In embracing Richard Rogers' style and adopting his tone, Alexander Olch creates a documentary that's as much a respectful, moving tribute to Rogers, as it is the projected realization of Rogers' intended cinematic autobiography.
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Late in this meandering film, Rogers' romantic infidelities and the onset of illness add some much-needed dynamics, but even when it's just shooting the breeze, The Windmill Movie is captivating.
Stan Hall, Oregonian
This movie should be unbearable; instead it's grotesquely fascinating. Rogers' striking early short Quarry precedes the main feature, demonstrating the man's considerable talent.
John Hartl, Seattle Times
Although the format will be familiar to fans of Tarnation and Capturing the Friedmans, the result comes closer to Fellini's autobiographical 8 1/2.
Chris Faraone, Boston Phoenix
Unfortunately, a man died (from cancer) in the making of this explicitly introspective life tome; it was the only way he saw to complete his masterpiece.
Philippe Garnier, L.A. Weekly
There hasn't been as good a film of this type in this country since Tarnation, which means Olch's movie is a treat and a surprise no one should pass on.
Robert Levin, Critic's Notebook
The ongoing, deeply personal introspection that permeates the picture gives it the haunting feel of a séance.
Karina Longworth, Cinematical
One gets swept up in the first soapy, then tragic melodrama of the life matter that overwhelmed Rogers' desire/compulsion/ability to make art.
Matthew Nestel, Boxoffice Magazine
Maybe Edwards has some crazy intent to try and offer his reel to God himself and get a pass. Whatever the case, he leaves one heck of a masterpiece for us mortals.
Geoff Berkshire, Metromix.com
There's something worth valuing in a documentary that would be a worthy companion piece to both Grey Gardens and Synecdoche, New York.
Noel Murray, AV Club
From the wall-to-wall piano score to Rogers' tedious navel-gazing, The Windmill Movie renders prosaic and pretentious the churning conflict behind the process of artistic creation.
Paul Brenner, Filmcritic.com
a heady combination of Synecdoche, New York, Annie Hall, Peeping Tom, and It's All True but all the more compelling because The Windmill Movie is all true.
S. James Snyder, Time Out New York
A mind-bending autobiography by proxy.