“The Pigeon Tunnel,” a new documentary from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Errol Morris, now streaming on Apple TV+, is a look at the extraordinary life of David Cornwell a.k.a. prolific author John le Carré. Through a retelling of his life, Cornwell examines the very essence of truth, and how memory and manipulation play a part in how we shape our world and our perceptions.
The set-up is simple, the story is not. Morris, who does not appear on camera, allows Cornwell/ le Carré, a leisurely ninety minutes to tell the story of his astonishing life. Dressed in an elegant blue businessman’s suit, he looks every inch the erudite MI6 intelligence officer he actually was from 1960 until 1964 when his career was cut short by the betrayal of double agent Kim Philby.
In measured tones, he eloquently describes a childhood that initially seems at odds with the sophisticated man seen in front of the camera. The son of Ronnie Cornwell, a career criminal and con man, says, “reality did not exist in my childhood. Performance did.”
And what follows is a performance of a sort. One that does not rely on truth as a cornerstone.
Early on, Ronnie schooled his son in the ways of duplicity, training that came in handy in his future careers as a raconteur, spy and a novelist. Cornwell/ le Carré, who died in 2020 shortly after the interviews for this film were completed, was a master fabulist, a storyteller who created a persona for himself in addition to the characters he created for his novels. He admits that much of what he says in the film isn’t true, that his recollections have been manipulated by the vagaries of memory and the trauma of youth.
A “long family background of betrayal,” from his father’s transgressions, his mother’s abandonment and later life changing disloyalty from his friend Philby, shaped him, and that is at the heart of what Morris wants the film to illuminate.
On the surface, it’s a look at an extraordinary life. But beyond the well-told stories, the real insight comes with how he sees the world. It doesn’t matter if the biographical details are true or not, what matters is his perception. It is how David Cornwell sees himself that is important and revealing. “I see my own life as a series of embraces and escapes,” he says.
“The Pigeon Tunnel” is as compelling as any le Carré novel. Cornwell/ le Carré knows how to tell a tale, and like any good spy, he knows what details to include, and which to hide away. Morris doesn’t attempt to chip away at the façade and get at the underlying truth, because he knows, in the hands of master storyteller, a good story is a good story, whether it is true or not.
On the Saturday October 14, 2023 edition of The Richard Crouse Show get to know Academy Award-winning filmmaker Errol Morris. His film “The Thin Blue Line” placed fifth on a Sight & Sound poll of the greatest documentaries ever made, and he has, in his films, documented everything from the career of Robert S. McNamara, the Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War and physicist Stephen Hawking to a topiary gardener, a robot scientist and a naked mole rat specialist.
“The Pigeon Tunnel,” his latest film, now streaming on Apple TV+, is a look at the extraordinary life of David Cornwell a.k.a. prolific author John le Carré. Through a retelling of his life, Cornwell examines the very essence of truth, and how memory and manipulation play a part in how we shape our world and our perceptions.
“The Pigeon Tunnel” is as compelling as any le Carré novel. Cornwell/ le Carré knows how to tell a tale, and like any good spy, he knows what details to include, and which to hide away. Morris doesn’t attempt to chip away at the façade and get at the underlying truth, because he knows, in the hands of master storyteller, a good story is a good story, whether it is true or not.
We’ll also meet Robert McCallum, director of the Amazon Prime documentary “Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe,” an award-winning look at the life and legacy of legendary children’s entertainer Ernie Coombs.
Finally, we’ll chat with Tatiana Maslany. You know her as the Emmy winning star of thew science-fiction thriller “Orphan Black,” and as part of the Marvel Universe as the star of “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.” Today she joins me to talk about playing Jennifer, a Monarch butterfly who suffers from acrophobia, a fear of heights, in the new animated film “Butterfly Tale.” We talk Butterflies, Broadway and much more.
Each week on the nationally syndicated Richard Crouse Show, Canada’s most recognized movie critic brings together some of the most interesting and opinionated people from the movies, television and music to put a fresh spin on news from the world of lifestyle and pop-culture. Tune into this show to hear in-depth interviews with actors and directors, to find out what’s going on behind the scenes of your favourite shows and movies and get a new take on current trends. Recent guests include Chris Pratt, Elvis Costello, Baz Luhrmann, Martin Freeman, David Cronenberg, Mayim Bialik, The Kids in the Hall and many more!
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Richard and CP24 anchor Jamie Gutfreund have a look at the weekend’s new movies, “Transformers: the Last Night,” “The Hero’s” tale of redemption and the underwater terror of “47 Metres Down.”
Oscar-winning documentarian Errol Morris has travelled the world chronicling the famous and infamous. To find the subject for his latest film “The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography” he looked closer to home. Next door in fact, to the home of his friend, portrait photographer Elsa Dorfman.
It’s a film as simple and unpretentious as its subject. In 76 quick minutes Morris lets Dorfman narrate the story in her thick Massachusetts accent. A friendship with Beat poet Allen Ginsberg opened the door for her to take photos of many literary and music stars, including W.H. Auden, Anais Nin, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan. Local heroes like Jonathan Richman also found their way before her camera but it is the pictures of her family and friends that define her work. “What you’re wearing is OK,” she says. “Who you are is OK. You don’t have to be cosmetized.” It is, she says, an acceptance of “everydayness.”
Much of “The B-Side” takes place in Elsa’s cluttered archive. “A lot of these are mistakes but because they are 20×24 they are too expensive to throw away,” she says. “The ones they don’t take I call the B-side.”
In 1980 she found a format that came to define her work, the Polaroid Land 20×24 camera. Producing large-scale photos became her trademark, although by her own assessment her straightforward approach never brought her fame or media attention.
Perhaps its because the pictures aren’t slick and neither is Elsa. Her work is almost folk art, an outsiders look at the world. She captured her subjects as they are the moment they stood in front of her camera. No touch ups or after effects. The pictures are documents of moments in time, plain and simple. “I am really interested in the surfaces of people,” she says. “I am totally not interest in capturing your soul. I am only interested in how they seem.” Her method was effective. In one newspaper article the mother of a subject raves, “It looks more like Faye than Faye herself.”
“The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography” is a quiet look at Dorfman and the art and life she created. “I was lucky in a way to find the cameras and to like it,” she says. “It’s a real way of being a quote artist and having an offbeat life. Inventing a way of living that is comfortable. It worked. I feel very grateful that it worked.”
Richard’s “Canada AM” interview with documentary filmmaker Errol Morris on his latest film ‘The Unknown Known’ – an in-depth look at the political career of Donald Rumsfeld.
“I’m annoyed by the story,” says Academy Award winning documentary filmmaker Errol Morris. “I just imagine that our public figures, the people we have given so much authority and power would more deeply reflect on what they’re doing and what they have done. Is that too much to ask?”
The subject of his ire is also the subject of his latest film The Unknown Known, Donald Rumsfeld, architect of the Iraq War.
The movie’s name is Rumsfeld doublespeak for “things you think you know that it turns out you did not,” which is appropriate for this riveting look at one of the most controversial characters of the twenty first century’s first decade.
At age 81 Rumsfeld gamely allows Morris to probe into his entire 50-year political career, as both the youngest—under President Gerald Ford—and the oldest person—under George W. Bush—to serve as Secretary of Defence.
“A friend of mine,” says Morris, “who is a political journalist, we argued a lot about the line in the movie where Rumsfeld says that the policies of Barack Obama have vindicated the policies of George W. Bush.
“I wouldn’t quite put it that way. But he is right in one regard. Many of these policies are still around. They still exist. There are still military tribunals. There are still detainees in Guantanamo. There is still the Patriot Act.
“My political journalist friend said, ‘Well maybe, even though we don’t like to think about it this way, are still living in a Rumsfeld world. The world he created.’
“I think that’s what is really important at the heart of this movie. It’s not like the Bush Administration disappeared when Barack Obama was elected and reelected. It didn’t. Those policies still linger on for whatever reason. Perhaps because we have a Republican congress, perhaps for other reasons but they changed everything, but they didn’t change everything for the better and we’re going to have to reckon with that for many, many years.”
I tell Morris I think he should consider using the tagline “It’s Rumsfeld’s World. We Just Live in It,” to promote the movie. “Think about it,” I said.
“I have thought about it!” he quickly replied shaking my hand. “I like it. As long as we don’t have to pay you it’s a deal.”
“I’m annoyed by the story,” says Academy Award winning documentary filmmaker Errol Morris. “I just imagine that our public figures, the people we have given so much authority and power would more deeply reflect on what they’re doing and what they have done. Is that too much to ask?”
The subject of his ire is also the subject of his latest film The Unknown Known, Donald Rumsfeld, architect of the Iraq War.
The movie’s name is Rumsfeld doublespeak for “things you think you know that it turns out you did not,” which is appropriate for this riveting look at one of the most controversial characters of the twenty first century’s first decade.
At age 81 Rumsfeld gamely allows Morris to probe into his entire 50-year political career, as both the youngest—under President Gerald Ford—and the oldest person—under George W. Bush—to serve as Secretary of Defense.
“A friend of mine,” says Morris, “who is a political journalist, we argued a lot about the line in the movie where Rumsfeld says that the policies of Barack Obama have vindicated the policies of George W. Bush.
“I wouldn’t quite put it that way. But he is right in one regard. Many of these policies are still around. They still exist. There are still military tribunals. There are still detainees in Guantanamo. There is still the Patriot Act.
“My political journalist friend said, ‘Well maybe, even though we don’t like to think about it this way, are still living in a Rumsfeld world. The world he created.’
“I think that’s what is really important at the heart of this movie. It’s not like the Bush Administration disappeared when Barack Obama was elected and reelected. It didn’t. Those policies still linger on for whatever reason. Perhaps because we have a Republican congress, perhaps for other reasons but they changed everything, but they didn’t change everything for the better and we’re going to have to reckon with that for many, many years.”
I tell Morris I think he should consider using the tagline “It’s Rumsfeld’s World. We Just Live in It,” to promote the movie. “Think about it,” I said.
“I have thought about it!” he quickly replied shaking my hand. “I like it. As long as we don’t have to pay you it’s a deal.”
“The Pigeon Tunnel,” a new documentary from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Errol Morris, now streaming on Apple TV+, is a look at the extraordinary life of David Cornwell a.k.a. prolific author John le Carré. Through a retelling of his life, Cornwell examines the very essence of truth, and how memory and manipulation play a part in how we shape our world and our perceptions.
