From Royalty to Spy to award-winning Death Metal Singer The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee covers all of it. The charming and informative documentary is playing Fantastic Fest 2024.
There is so much to one’s life beyond what people see. That is the theme at the very heart of director John Spira’s splendid documentary The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee. The documentary charts the life and times of Sir Christopher Lee and the varied interesting and arresting life the man had beyond Hammer Films and Lord of the Rings. The film is populated with wonderful talking head interviews by the likes of Joe Dante, Peter Jackson, John Landis, Paul Maslansky, Caroline Munro, Jonathan Rigby, and Harriet Walter.
Though Spira’s doc isn’t content with just talking heads, archival interviews with Christopher Lee. The film attempts to resurrect the man himself. Doing so in various ingenious ways that pushes this into a unique doc with some truly inventive visuals. Spira employs animations by artists Andrew Gill, Astrid Goldsmith, Dave McKean, and Cornelia Skrok the result of which gives life to the stories and historical facts of Lee’s life rather than relying on photographs or other stilted material.
Then there’s the clever use of Lee himself and actor Peter Serafinowicz. Serafinowicz acts as the narrator of the film doing a drop-dead perfect imitation of Lee. The imitation goes beyond the narration as Spira employs a puppet (yes, a puppet) of Christopher Lee as a host of sorts for the film. The result is an uncanny, and very cheeky, revival of Lee, being able to comment on the proceedings – through the use of Lee’s own words (culled from archival interviews).
Many die-hard fans will find the documentary fascinating though much will not be surprising to them. Those unfamiliar with Lee and his interesting life will be entertained by a man who refused to be pigeonholed. The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee and its arresting visual style will satisfy both fan and non-fan alike.
The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee played on September 21st and plays September 24th at Fantastic Fest
From Royalty to Spy to award-winning Death Metal Singer The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee covers all of it. The charming and informative documentary is playing Fantastic Fest 2024.
There is so much to one’s life beyond what people see. That is the theme at the very heart of director John Spira’s splendid documentary The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee. The documentary charts the life and times of Sir Christopher Lee and the varied interesting and arresting life the man had beyond Hammer Films and Lord of the Rings. The film is populated with wonderful talking head interviews by the likes of Joe Dante, Peter Jackson, John Landis, Paul Maslansky, Caroline Munro, Jonathan Rigby, and Harriet Walter.
Though Spira’s doc isn’t content with just talking heads, archival interviews with Christopher Lee. The film attempts to resurrect the man himself. Doing so in various ingenious ways that pushes this into a unique doc with some truly inventive visuals. Spira employs animations by artists Andrew Gill, Astrid Goldsmith, Dave McKean, and Cornelia Skrok the result of which gives life to the stories and historical facts of Lee’s life rather than relying on photographs or other stilted material.
Then there’s the clever use of Lee himself and actor Peter Serafinowicz. Serafinowicz acts as the narrator of the film doing a drop-dead perfect imitation of Lee. The imitation goes beyond the narration as Spira employs a puppet (yes, a puppet) of Christopher Lee as a host of sorts for the film. The result is an uncanny, and very cheeky, revival of Lee, being able to comment on the proceedings – through the use of Lee’s own words (culled from archival interviews).
Many die-hard fans will find the documentary fascinating though much will not be surprising to them. Those unfamiliar with Lee and his interesting life will be entertained by a man who refused to be pigeonholed. The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee and its arresting visual style will satisfy both fan and non-fan alike.
The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee played on September 21st and plays September 24th at Fantastic Fest
Share this:
Like this:
Discover more from The Movie Isle
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.