Watch Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak For Free

Absolutely Fantastic

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

In 2003, Jonze and his frequent collaborator Lance Bangs began taping a series of interviews with the well over 80 years old Sendak at his home, listening (and sometimes prodding) as Sendak recalled his boyhood, his early career, the phenomena and controversies of "Wild Things" and "In The Night Kitchen", and what it was like to live as a gay man at a time when going public with his sexuality might've ended his career. Sendak is a natural performer in front of the camera, and a man of contradictions. This film is really insightful. If you like Mr. Sendak's work, you will truly enjoy this doc.

"Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak" is a fairly long title for a relatively short movie as this documentary here runs for under 40 minutes only. It was directed by Lance Bangs and Spike Jonze and that's not a coincidence of course as Jonze worked with Bangs on other occasions and of course one of Jonze's more known works is an adaptation of a well known Maurice Sendak book. Still the focus here lies not too much on the many film adaptations from Sendak's body of work, but on his own creative approach, also at times on his personal life away from his profession. And from that perspective, you get pretty much all you can expect, maybe even hope for. Still it is not a film that will really turn you into a fan of the author, but it is a work you will appreciate, maybe even love if you already have a connection with the author, for example through loving his works when you were a child or reading your own kids from his work. I myself must say though that all I am in touch with with Sendak is through Jonze's WTWTA and as I was not too big a fan of this film, especially given how much I love some of Jonze's other stuff, and maybe that's the reason why this documentary short did not do too much for me. Sadly Sendak died a few years after this was released back in 2009, so it will have its 10th anniversary next year, but he left us a lot of creativity and I am by no means judging him as a writer here. An entirely subjective thumbs-down from me for this one.

This documentary is a tribute to 80 year old children's writer and illustrator, Maurice Sendak. We visit his home in Ridgefield, Connecticut where he still draws and writes with his beloved dog, Herman, beside him. I was troubled by his use of profanity in the documentary where this could be shown to younger audiences to understand one of their favorite authors. Anyway, I felt that Sendak didn't spend enough time about his books and life. I felt the director and camera man didn't focus in on his works and intertwined with his life. I didn't know he was gay nor that he had a longtime relationship with a man, Dr. Eugene Glynn, for over 50 years. I would have liked to have known more about their relationship but they didn't really inquire into it. He lives with Lynn, a female best friend, who takes care of him for the most part in his Connecticut home. I didn't realize how unhappy that a children's writer could be or that he didn't desire to be a father himself.