Customer Reviews

Bird by Bird with Annie: A Film Portrait of Writer Anne Lamott [VHS]

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I watched this film after reading "Bird by Bird" and "Hard Laughter" and found that Anne Lamott was just as I expected her to be...funny, sentimental, sometimes emotional, caring, loving, kind, passionate and considerate. She truly is a beautiful person who has grown through pain and talks very candidly about her faith and what it takes to get to a place in one's life where it feels good to be alive. I laughed and I cried when watching this video and really appreciated her honesty about the things she has struggled with. She has a lot of strength.

I recommend this film and ALL of her work. Brilliant.

I love this Video! I am a Lamott fan and first heard her on a radio show. I was attracted to her wit and humor BUT that humor and wit (as with so many comedians) was clearly grounded in deep personal pain and suffering. So, I started reading her books and was pleased when this short video became available! It is short! Only an hour long, but it follows Anne through some interesting vignettes in a one year period of her life. There is one scene where she presides over the gay marriage/wedding of two men in an outdoor wedding ceremony that may not be for all or appreciated by some. Other than that I liked her letting us in to her life to show us that one can lift themselves from rock bottom of addiction and suffering. There is a scene of Anne with a piece of paper, a bottle of white out, and her writing on the page looks like that of a school child's!!! Yes, she writes like all of us did, excrutiatingly trying to get something, ANYTHING!, down on paper.
In another scene, she takes her son to an old age retirement nursing home. Although a successful writer, her sprirituality still is in front as she reaches out to others. There are many church scenes in the movie where apparently the churches that she belongs to have sustained her and helped her come out of her addiction and alcoholism. Some of the church scenes could have been edited down a tad but this is a minor complaint.

When she is shown speaking at Book Fairs, there are shots of her audience. Many in the audience respond to Anne and connect with her and others are shown bored out of their gourds! and/or not knowing quite how to take this quirky lady! That's OK. That's Anne!! Either you immediately adore her or you can't quite figure out what she is all about --- this is shown in the video through these scenes of her book fair audiences.

She describes the torture of the craft of writing and there are scenes of her presiding over her writing classes which she clearly states she teaches because she needed the money. She is up front and honest and not afraid to say she was broke. What I like about Anne is that she is a writer that strives to connect her Heart to her Voice - her writing voice - and now that she has found her voice, it is a magnificent treat to savor.

I love to introduce my friends to the work of Anne Lamott and the video and one of her books often does the trick!