Nichols is so consistently stunningly insightful (about everything), and May's editorial choices so sound, that I wanted it to be an hour longer while respecting how finely tuned it was to not exceed its mandated 60 minutes.

Is it just me or was Matthau's patrician, smartest-guy-in-the-room Henry Graham in A NEW LEAF possibly a little bit inspired by Nichols?

Within the first five seconds, a Hitler joke gets cracked, and I'm already laughing. Nichols would have approved.

Welcome back, Elaine May. We've missed you.

With a great balance between set and film-related anecdotes and more general musings from the brilliant man himself and the people who knew him best, structurally speaking this is exactly what I wanted from De Palma, the other director examination I watched recently. The problem here is that just about every part of this feels too short--with an extra forty minutes to an hour, this could have easily been a masterpiece, but the TV-friendly cut we have feels more like a summary at times.

Watched through Elaine May completism. as much as i've enjoyed some of his films I can't say Nichols means that much to me.

But he's interesting when he talks and those bits where they get him a little bit off himself and onto wider culture are great, when he talks about auteurism for example. It's obviously informed and motivated by the way that he (doesn't) fit into the auteurist model but it also shows us someone with things to say about wider cinema. Which unfortunately is not what the format of the documentary is after.

There's a nice relaxed feel to the conversations and it provides an excellent history of a certain strand of post-war american cultural life. I'd like to have just heard him talk about that strand or that culture in general rather than the greatest hits of his filmography but again thats not what the format was after.

Really eye opening little doc for someone who not only knew very little about Nichols but also his comedic partnership with May. And while I'm saddened this is the last thing May directed, it seems only right that I should use this as inspiration to transition in to more Nichols films, specifically those starring Meryl Streep (who he could barely speak about without breaking down), possibly the greatest living actress and somehow many of her biggest roles remain blind spots.

Discussed on the final episode of The Complete Elaine May.

Please please please tell me Elaine May cut a five-hour version of this and fought PBS to get it on the air.

Far too short. Great, but so short.

Inspiring and to-the-point.

9.0

Notable as Elaine May's first directorial credit since ISHTAR.

High point: Nichols tearing up talking about Meryl Streep. Low point: five minutes of Nichols trashing the auteur theory in which he mocks the French for liking Jerry Lewis and calls David Lean "maybe THE great director."

I don't think there's a more ringing endorsement of a human being than Elaine May directing a documentary about them.

and like that, my elaine may directorial filmography is complete?

the pictures of elaine and mike made me very emo

so did mike tearing up while talking about meryl streep

i like a lot of mike's films but admittedly there are a lot of holes in his filmography and this documentary made me immediately excited to see more from him

but it also touched me as a loving tribute and portrait of a truly talented filmmaker made by the people who loved him most

<3 nichols and may <3

A breezy and entertaining affair that barely scratches the surface of a creative genius. Worth watching for a brief Robin Williams appearance and a few great anecdotes from the legend himself.

Watched through Elaine May completism. as much as i've enjoyed some of his films I can't say Nichols means that much to me.

But he's interesting when he talks and those bits where they get him a little bit off himself and onto wider culture are great, when he talks about auteurism for example. It's obviously informed and motivated by the way that he (doesn't) fit into the auteurist model but it also shows us someone with things to say about wider cinema. Which unfortunately is not what the format of the documentary is after.

There's a nice relaxed feel to the conversations and it provides an excellent history of a certain strand of post-war american cultural life. I'd like to have just heard him talk about that strand or that culture in general rather than the greatest hits of his filmography but again thats not what the format was after.