The documentary “Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time” takes the novelist’s importance as a given, although years after his death in 2007, his apparent significance still sparks conflict on social media. Likewise, when Robert B. Weide, who directed this film with Don Argott, describes the themes of a Vonnegut novel that he read as a teenager, he concludes by saying: “What high school student is not going to swallow this? “A viewer with more adult standards, however, might wince at this.
Vonnegut’s groundbreaking novel was an extremely difficult novel to write. “Unstuck in Time” relates “Slaughterhouse-Five” and other works by the author. “Slaughterhouse-Five” (1969), with its poignant description of the Allied bombing raids that destroyed Dresden during World War II, has become a classic of the counter-culture. Vonnegut was there, as a prisoner of war. The book took him a long time to complete, in part because of his reluctance to revisit past traumas.
The vanities of the novel – including the claim that its hero, Billy Pilgrim, is “off in time,” bouncing around his own life like a pinball machine – were conveyed in a deceptively relaxed and approachable style. (The book was turned into a well-received film released in 1972.)
Much of the documentary is devoted to Weide’s decades-long work on the project and the friendship he developed with Vonnegut. It is a double portrait which somewhat undermines the title of the film.
“I didn’t even want to be in this movie in the first place,” said Weide, who has directed documentaries and several seasons of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” on camera, sounding slightly misleading. Not Being in a movie can be the easiest thing in the world, if you think about it.
In any event, the structure of the film is determined – and at times distorted – by its insistence on telling the story of a writer and his cinematic Boswell. If you can roll with that, “Unstuck in Time” has its revelations and rewards.
Kurt Vonnegut: Take off in time
Unclassified. Duration: 2 hours 7 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or purchase on Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.
