Gray's Anatomy [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Spalding Gray Director: Steven Soderbergh

Overview

This filmed performance of a monologue contains some interesting visuals and some interviews. The subject is about Gray's bout with an eye ailment that causes him to travel around the world in order to find a treatment that would coincide with his religious beliefs.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/19/2012
UPC:	0715515093217
Original Release:	1996
Source:	Criterion
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[B&W, Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:19:00
Sales rank:	23,478

Special Features

New interviews with Soderbergh and monologue cowriter Ren?e Shafransky; A personal history of the American Theater, a ninety-five minute monologue by Spalding Gray, originally produced by Wooster Group in 1980 and videotaped in 1982; Swimming to the Macula, sixteen minutes of footage from Gray's actual eye surgery ; Trailer; Plus: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Amy Taubin

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Spalding Gray

Performer

Technical Credits

John Hardy	Producer
Caroline Kaplan	Executive Producer
Kathleen Russo	Executive Producer
Jonathan Sehring	Executive Producer
Paul Ledford	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

It may not seem like Spalding Gray would require a critically acclaimed director to film a spoken-word monologue, but Steven Soderbergh succeeds in making a visually interesting movie out of Gray's 80-minute account of his degenerative eye disorder. Gray's Anatomy begins promisingly with a series of documentary-style interviews with real-life survivors of eye trauma, then transitions into an engrossing tale of the humor and anguish involved in Gray's attempts to treat his macular pucker, which will eventually lead to blindness. With his New Yawker mannerisms and gesticulations, Gray already makes for attention-grabbing subject matter, but Soderbergh adds atmosphere to the piece with background colors and other visual representations of the film's themes. The tale is absurdly funny, populated by oddball characters trying to appeal to the notorious doctor-phobe, who was born a Christian Scientist. While Gray's shtick is inherently amusing, almost like stand-up comedy, he affectingly takes the viewer to far more serious places in his personal life, and finishes on an unresolved note that's sure to provoke thought. The film manages to be both entertaining and informative, and it should fulfill even those viewers not naturally drawn to Gray's neurotic ranting.