Nobody's Business1996

Alan Berliner takes on his reclusive father as the reluctant subject of this poignant and graceful study of family history and memory. What emerges is a uniquely cinematic biography that finds both humor and pathos in the swirl of conflicts and affections that bind father and son. Ultimately this complex portrait is a meeting of the minds - where the past meets the present, where generations collide, and where the boundaries of family life are pushed, pulled, stretched, torn and surprisingly at times, also healed. Particularly in this age of low format video proliferation, Nobody's Business is notable for its masterful editing, stunning craft and exquisite filmmaking. Filmmaker Alan Berliner achieves a rare feat of inter-generational sleuthing as he weaves together aesthetically and emotionally rich interviews with his father and other family members, an extraordinary array of archival material, and live action sequences to create an inventive and touching essay on memory and family. Mining the hitherto untapped resources of long-distance relatives, some of whom were unknown to him prior to the making of the film, Berliner touches upon universal themes relating to families, regardless of cultural background. – Rockefeller Foundation Catalogue "Alan Berliner illustrates the power of fine art to transform life." – THE NEW YORK TIMES "A funny, poignant, and densely textured look at family and personality... a film of unusual charms and stylistic verve – affecting and revealing." – VARIETY "A storyteller of profound scope and an editor of eye-popping skill, Berliner ultimately coaxes a hugely entertaining story out of his relatives – an Albert Brooks comedy with the gravity of personal history. " – CITY PAGES
The News and Arts Weekly of the Twin Cities A gift to the whole human family – hilarious, tender, provocative, witty, touching, instructive and, as with all works of art, exhilarating." – NEW YORK JEWISH WEEK
"I know of no one working in personal films today who can do so well what Alan Berliner does: bring dramatically alive the intense agon and ambivalence and love within families. His dazzling technical mastery of the relation between sound and image is always kept in the service of deep psychological truths." – Philip Lopate. FILM COMMENT
"What leapfrogs Berliner's work to the head of the pack is a combination of passionate involvement, cool/detached intellect, thematic consistency that mirrors the universal in the personal... and a virtual inability to bore the viewer. A Berliner hour is like a New York minute – a lot happens in a short amount of time, and it's over before you know it." – Morrie Warshawski, CHICAGO JEWISH STAR