Adam Nimoy screens "For The Love Of Spock"

[Trekfan12]

He screened it for the fans in Boston, since this is where his father was from. (if a Boston Globe subscription window appears just reload the page. It was annoying when I first clicked on it and they wanted me to subscribe)
Bill Shatner helped in a big way with helping fund the movie, he set up his twitter acct to donate money to kickstarter every time he tweeted. And he tweets a lot.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyl...documentary/HnqHswbAR2wz6weJEQM8MJ/story.html

 

[Trekfan12]

It's sad that he was distant from his children. But I am glad he reconciled in the end with his son

 

[Corylea]

Monday evening, my husband and I saw For the Love of Spock in Boston, at a special screening for Kickstarter backers of the project. Here's a report of what we saw and what I thought of it.

Adam Nimoy had advertised the movie in his Kickstarter campaign as a documentary celebrating Spock and Leonard Nimoy, in honor of the 50th anniversary of Star Trek. That was two-thirds of the film. The final third was a look at the troubled relationship between Adam and Leonard.

The first third of the film -- the part about Spock -- was sorta fun, though I didn't feel as if Adam shed any actual light on the subject. There was a collection of great Spock moments -- not as good as what you could find in any fan-made YouTube compilation -- a few interviews with Trekkies who felt that Spock helped them in various personal ways, and a few interviews with professional scientists who appreciated Spock. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was especially notable among the latter, for being consistently adorable, but then, he usually is. :-)

The second third of the film -- the part about Leonard Nimoy -- was, I thought, the best part. We got clips of Leonard's guest appearances in various TV shows while he was a young man, shots of him in various plays after he became famous, and some discussion of the movies he'd directed and the photographs he'd taken. There were interviews with his older brother, Melvin, and his wife, with a childhood friend who also became an actor, and with the surviving cast members of TOS and of the reboot movies. I had never seen Melvin before, and it was interesting to hear him talk about his little brother.

The final third of the film -- the part where Adam talked about his troubled relationship with his father -- blames Leonard's devotion to his work and the consequent long hours, exhaustion, and general non-availability for Adam's various addictions and general dissatisfaction with life. There's a quite a lot of that -- He forced the whole family to help him answer his fan mail! The pain! The horror! -- and then it winds up with a segment whose tone is "Fortunately, Leonard eventually gave up all that acting nonsense and devoted himself to his family, as he should have all along."

So the film has a "happy" ending, by having Leonard give up his various creative pursuits to devote himself to his family.

Bleah.

Adam says that his ex-wife -- with whom he is good friends -- told him that there was too much of HIM in the movie. He asked the movie's editor -- he told us during the introduction before the film that this was a woman he hired specifically because she knew nothing about Star Trek -- and she told him that putting so much of himself into the movie was a good thing. Judged just as a movie, the editor is probably right, because the last third adds a bit of drama. Judged as a film touted as a celebration of Spock and Leonard Nimoy, however, I'm afraid I have to agree with the ex-wife. And even more than Adam's injecting so much of himself into the movie, I object to his making "Give up your career and devote yourself to your family" the point or moral of the story he's telling.

So now I'll talk about the movie in more detail, by part:

1. The first third of the movie is probably the best that Adam could have done, given that he wasn't a big Spock fan. I think someone other than Adam could have done a much better job with this, though I guess it's not Adam's fault that he isn't someone else. :-) The thing is that Adam is one of the few people who have access to all of the cast members and to Neil DeGrasse Tyson and to folks at NASA and so on. A Spock-loving Trekkie could have written and planned a better movie about Spock, but that person wouldn't have had the access that Adam had, and that's rather unfortunate. I would have loved to have seen a movie like this made by someone who had Adam's access but who truly LOVED Spock.

The organization of the first part is along the lines of the Vulcan superpowers, so there's a bit of "He mind-melds! He neck-pinches! He gives the Vulcan salute! How cool!" And yeah, okay, those things are cool, and there is a nod to how Spock has inspired several scientists and been a role-model and comfort to outsiders of various stripes. It was quite reasonable, that first third. But I didn't feel as if it was made with real LOVE for Spock, and I didn't feel as if it shed any light on why Spock is so compelling that any reasonably articulate Trekkie couldn't have given us with five minutes' thought.

There wasn't any deeper analysis of Spock's character beyond the scientist and outsider stuff, so we didn't hear about all the things besides the Vulcan superpowers that make Spock such a compelling character. Personally, I find the fact that Spock will do what he believes to be the right thing, no matter how much it costs him personally, to be one of the hallmarks of his character and one of the reasons why he's so inspiring, but maybe that's just me? Like how he was willing to face the death penalty to take Christopher Pike to Talos IV in "The Menagerie," or how he was willing to let his father die and his mother hate him to protect the ambassadors on board the Enterprise in "Journey to Babel," and of course there's his repairing the ship at the cost of his own life in The Wrath of Khan.

2. I have less to say about the second part of the movie. It gave us a summary -- or maybe more accurately, a collage -- of Leonard's background and life. That was fine, though I did think it was perhaps telling that Adam left out several of the stories that show Leonard's goodness. He gave us the story about Leonard's insisting that Takei and Nichols be hired for the animated series but not the ones about his getting pay parity for Nichols during TOS or about his being the only one Grace Lee Whitney felt she could trust and confide in after someone connected with the show raped her.

3. Adam talks about his troubled relationship with his father and makes it clear that he didn't get what he wanted from his father until the last few years of Leonard's life. He never tells us, though -- I learned this from Shatner's book about Leonard -- that when Adam wanted to stop being a lawyer and start being a director, Leonard arranged for Adam to shadow a director on The Next Generation and essentially be tutored in the craft by a working professional, something that a person whose last name was NOT Nimoy could probably not have arranged at all, and if they had been able to arrange it, they'd have had to show some talent and training first.

Adam doesn't seem to take the cultural standards of the time into account. Leonard Nimoy was born one year before my own father was born; Adam is two years older than I am. I remember the times during which he and I were raised, and the cultural standard then was that the woman raised the children and the man worked hard and supported the family. It was considered normal, natural, and desirable for the wife to devote herself to the children and for the husband to devote himself to his career so that he could provide financial support for his family. Nowadays, we find those attitudes sexist and limiting, and I'm glad that our cultural standards have changed. But I think it's unfair to judge a man for not living up to standards that didn't exist at the time!

A reading of Leonard's autobiographies shows that he spent an enormous amount of time and energy on his career because he needed and wanted that creative outlet. But it also shows that during the years of the TV show, he made a huge number of personal appearances all over the country for anyone who would pay him -- at a time when he was exhausted from working 12-16 hours a day on the show -- in order to provide for his family while he could. He thought that his popularity and marketability would decline after the TV show went off the air -- a reasonable conclusion, given what happens to most TV actors -- and he was determined to take advantage of every available opportunity while he still had them. There was no creative outlet for Leonard in all those public appearances; he did them to support his family.

By the standards of the time, Leonard was doing the right thing and more than the right thing, was going above and beyond and working himself into exhaustion to provide for his family.

Leonard never got what he wanted and needed from his own father, or from his mother, either. They were very invested in the success of his older brother and had less attention for him, plus they never understood either his ambition to be an actor or the show that made him a star. Leonard's parents disappointed him at least as much as Leonard disappointed Adam ... and Leonard went on to become a great man. Not just a great actor, though he was that, but a man whose intimates (except for Adam) all talk about his goodness, kindness, and generosity.

Although the movie certainly wasn't all bad and in fact had some lovely moments, overall I thought that Adam Nimoy made a rather self-indulgent film. Of course, the poor guy did lose his father recently, so one can forgive a certain amount of self focus ... but this isn't the movie I thought I was funding, and I was heartsick at the "moral" Adam gave us.

Do you want to see the film? Yeah, you probably do. But you'll probably enjoy it more if you go in with lowered expectations.

 

[Leila Kalomi]

Hi, @Corylea, thank you so much for posting such a detailed review of this film! I appreciate reading your thoughts before I see the film at Star Trek: Mission New York in September.

It's kind of disappointing to hear that the first third of the film did not really dig deep into Spock's character traits. We all know about his superhuman powers and, as you said, a compilation of Spock moments is nothing that a fan on YouTube couldn't pull off. I understand that the film wasn't made for Trekkies. However, like you, many people admire Spock's steadfastness and unswerving devotion to what he believes. That aspect of him should definitely have been included.

Your comments about the second third of the film were the most fascinating to me. I am looking forward to seeing Marvin Nimoy, a very elusive man. I was beginning to wonder if he existed. No, I'm just kidding, but I'm happy to hear that Leonard's brother participated! The interviews with scientists, family members, and cast members sound intriguing. It's too bad that Adam didn't include those stories about his father supporting his cast mates.

As for the last third, your summary sounds a lot like Adam's book. I don't know if you read it; it's called My Incredibly Wonderful, Miserable Life. It includes a few anecdotes about life with his dad, most of which are not positive. I agree (albeit, not having seen the film) that a proper tribute to someone should include a lot of good things about them. It's too bad Adam's film conveyed the moral that one must abandon creative pursuits for family. I think there is room in life for a good balance of the two. But, Adam can only draw from experience. I can't judge it until I see it.

Thanks again for the preview of For the Love of Spock! I am looking forward to watching it in a few months, with different, if now lower expectations. From your comments, the title seems sarcastic to me now. As in, the film was not made out of the creator's love of Spock (this is how I originally interpreted it), but the title is like an exasperated person exclaiming, oh, for the love of Spock!

 

[Corylea]

Hi, @Corylea, thank you so much for posting such a detailed review of this film! I appreciate reading your thoughts before I see the film at Star Trek: Mission New York in September.

You're welcome! And thanks for your reply.

I understand that the film wasn't made for Trekkies.

I'm not sure who it was made for then, if it wasn't made for us. Who else would pay to see a documentary about Spock?

As for the last third, your summary sounds a lot like Adam's book. I don't know if you read it; it's called My Incredibly Wonderful, Miserable Life. It includes a few anecdotes about life with his dad, most of which are not positive.

I did read Adam's autobiography. And in fact, when Adam began the Kickstarter for this project, I told him that while I sympathized with the challenges involved in being the son of a celebrity (really, it must suck bigtime), his book was rather bitter, and I gently suggested that perhaps he wasn't the right person to make a movie celebrating Spock.

He jokingly thanked me for being one of the twelve people who'd read his autobiography and went on to say that he and his father had had a rapprochement since that book was written, and they were in a very different place now.

And it IS true that the movie's tone is not bitter, the way the book's tone was. It was more matter-of-fact than bitter about the bad part of their relationship, and it did seem as if he had more positive feelings towards his father now than he'd had in the past.

So, no, the movie doesn't portray Leonard in an awful light, and it doesn't portray Adam as an angel. I do think, though, that it doesn't give Leonard enough credit for the things he did do. For example, during the movie, Adam shows us a letter that Leonard wrote him sometime in the 70's. It's a long, multi-page, hand-written letter, written on what looks like a yellow legal pad. It's a sweet and thoughtful letter that's trying to heal their relationship. Adam said -- I forget if this was during the movie or during the talks he gave before and after it -- that he found this letter while going through some stuff while preparing the movie, and he had no memory of it. He forgot that Leonard had ever sat down and written him a sensitive and understanding multi-page letter to try to heal their relationship. So it seemed -- to me, at least -- that Adam wanted to hang onto his bitterness during that era, so much that he didn't even remember the good things Leonard did for him.

From your comments, the title seems sarcastic to me now. As in, the film was not made out of the creator's love of Spock (this is how I originally interpreted it), but the title is like an exasperated person exclaiming, oh, for the love of Spock!

*laugh* That's cute!

I don't think the title is meant sarcastically, though. I think when Adam began the Kickstarter to fund the movie, he genuinely meant to make a movie celebrating Spock and his dad. And the movie DOES do some of that, yes it does. It's just that it clearly wasn't made by someone who adores Spock the way that WE adore him and that it has this other part, too.

I remember in his autobiography, Adam talks about being dragged to see his father on Broadway in Equus. He didn't want to go, but his mother made him, and the whole family trooped off to see the play. And Adam was sitting in the audience, fuming because here was his father's goddamned career taking precedence AGAIN, but by the time the play was over, all he could think was, "God, Dad was brilliant."

I think both things are there. I think Adam knows his father was brilliant, but he didn't get as much of his father's attention as he wanted, and it still rankles. He's allowed! But I wish he'd told his therapist about it and not fifty million Trekkies.

Adam's life was so much easier than his father's life, and Adam's father gave him so much more, emotionally, than Leonard's father gave HIM that I think Adam's complaining about it in public makes him look like a smaller man in every way. I figure giving better parenting than one received makes a person a hero, even if one falls short of perfection.

 

[Leila Kalomi]

I really liked that part in his biography about seeing his dad in Equus. I do wish the movie focused more on Spock, but I guess Adam can choose what to include. And his personal life with (or without) his dad is probably very interesting to watch and hear about. It's good to hear that at least Adam admits he was bitter and that could explain why he didn't remember the nice things his dad did for him.
Now I am even more curious to watch this.
I wonder what Julie thought about her father's career and if they had a better relationship? Is she interviewed in this film?

Thanks for your reply!

 

[Trekfan12]

I wish Leonard had lived to make this movie. It seems that Adam used this as a cathartic way to get his own feelings of bitterness about his father not being present while he was growing up. I can understand that from his side of things, being Leonard's son, it must have been tough to be the son of the man behind Spock. But I would like to see a tribute movie, not something that has any bitterness involved.

 

[Trekfan12]

The title of the movie sounds like a misnomer. "For the Love of Spock." Maybe it should have been titled "My Dad from my POV."

I lost my father in 1992 to a sudden heart attack. It came out of the blue as he was not sick. I was not as close to him as I would have liked. He could be moody, there was a lot of yelling between my parents. My father was a holocaust survivor. I certainly wished things could have been more peaceful on the home front. The anger and atmosphere in the home affected me. I have never been bitter towards either of my parents. I lost my mom in 1996. She lived through the depression. Lost her own parents early on. So while some people under similar circumstances could be bitter or even angry towards their parents. I am not. I love them dearly, miss them a lot. Not a day goes by that I don't think about them. There are plenty of things I wish I could have said to them, to voice my feelings. BUT if I were to make a documentary about them. I'd have more positive things to say about them. Because I understand they were a product of their environments. You can't live through the horrors each of them had to face during their lives and come out unscathed.

I only wish Adam could reflect on his father and realize that he was the product of his environment and he did the best he could for his family. I did see the documentary he and his father did together when they went back to Boston and Leonard took him back to revisit where he grew up.

I could certainly never do that with my father. It would have been too painful for him to relive the horrors of the holocaust.

 

[Leila Kalomi]

@Trekfan12, I fully agree with you on this. They were supposed to make this movie together from what I understand. If they did, it is likely that the focus would have been on the Spock character and the film would not have included Adam's feelings towards his father. Have you seen the film? If so, what did you think?

 

[Leila Kalomi]

I meant the above post as a reply to your first post.

 

[Trekfan12]

@Trekfan12, I fully agree with you on this. They were supposed to make this movie together from what I understand. If they did, it is likely that the focus would have been on the Spock character and the film would not have included Adam's feelings towards his father. Have you seen the film? If so, what did you think?

No I haven't seen the movie. I am going by what Corylea said. I know that if Leonard had been involved it would have been about his life and Spock. I mean the title is "For the Love of Spock." And it's the 50th anniversary of TOS. I was looking forward to seeing a documentary about Spock and the man behind the character he brought to life. A character that has meant a lot to me and so many others. I will see the movie, hopefully it will be playing in my area, I want to see Leonard's brother Melvin, Bill, Nichelle, George and Zachary's comments. I have to wonder what they will think of this documentary when they see (if they haven't already)

It just is disappointing, I think, especially to those who helped fund this movie

 

[Trekfan12]

I wonder what Julie Nimoy thinks of the documentary and her experience with her father. It they were closer than Adam was with Leonard.

 

[Corylea]

I want to make sure you guys understand that the movie wasn't all bad. There was a collection of great Spock moments, and there was a section about Leonard's life and career. I think the movie is worth seeing, but if you go in expecting a joyful celebration with no underlying "but," you'll be disappointed. I'm actually NOT trying to discourage people from seeing the movie; I'm just trying to lower expectations so that other people will enjoy it more than I did.

"That was interesting, and I got to think about Spock for an hour" would make you feel reasonably good about the movie, whereas "Damn, Adam, that's not the movie you said you were making" would make you feel crappy. I felt terribly disappointed after seeing it, so I'm hoping to give others more realistic expectations. And who knows, maybe your reaction will even be, "That's better than Corylea said it was." :-)

As I said, it's Adam's autobiography that was bitter; the movie's tone is more matter-of-fact about how troubled their relationship was.

There was a wonderful Zachary Quinto moment in the film. One of the last things Adam did was ask a bunch of people what one word they'd use to describe Leonard. There were a lot of great words for him, and when they got to Zachary Quinto, he turned red, teared up, and looked like he was about to burst into sobs at any moment, then choked out, "Love."

The person who LOOKS a lot like Leonard? Adam.
The person who cares about the same stuff Leonard cared about and conducts himself in the world in a similar way? Zachary.

 

[Leila Kalomi]

That Zachary story almost made me tear up! Thanks for all your work telling us about the film. I will watch it with lowered expectations but still with an open mind. And I will let you know what I thought.

 

[Trekfan12]

Thanks, Corylea. I do plan to see it, just won't expect a true tribute from Adam's POV. I just think if he wanted to do some expose or 'true story' documentary/movie, he could have. Like the untold story type of thing But it's hard not to expect more from a movie titled "For the Love of Spock." I know Zachary thought of Leonard as a father figure and loved him a lot.

 

[Aragorn]

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