Movie Review #7 - I Knew It Was You (2009)

You know you've made it when the Simpsons reference you!

A colleague recently lent me this nice little documentary on John Cazale. Who the hell is that, you might ask? Well he's in Dog Day Afternoon, The Conversation, The Deer Hunter, The Godfather and The Godfather II. Not a bad CV! He was, the perfect supporting actor and the movies that he worked on won numerous Academy Awards.

The documentary is a short (40 mins) tribute to his brief, but great career. Containing interviews with a plethora of film icons, including Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, Francis Ford Coppola and Sidney Lumet, it outlines how much they respected and admired his amazing skill. These interviews are intercut with excerpts from his films, again demonstrating his enormous talent.

As a film, I Knew It Was You is hard to review. It's well-made, but not great documentary filmmaking. It seeks to do nothing other than recognise Cazale's skill, and it achieves this. It is great to see great cinema legends honour such a magnificent talent. It was a shame that Cazale passed away so young (cancer), because he would have amassed an impressive body of work. Go and watch his five films, and focus on Cazale; his expressions, his delivery, his body language. Acting at its finest.

3 Stars