Roger Ebert - A Despedida (X/X)

"Thank you. Forty-six years ago on April 3, 1967, I became the film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times. Some of you have read my reviews and columns and even written to me since that time. Others were introduced to my film criticism through the television show, my books, the website, the film festival, or the Ebert Club and newsletter. However you came to know me, I'm glad you did and thank you for being the best readers any film critic could ask for. (...) So on this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I'll see you at the movies."

Assim começou e assim acabou a última entrada de Ebert no seu blogue pessoal. Com "A Leave of Presence", o crítico sabia que enfrentava um novo cancro e que o ritmo alucinante da sua vida profissional ia ter que abrandar. Uma despedida involuntária, que seria acompanhada posteriomente pela sua última análise escrita, publicada já após a sua morte: "To the Wonder", curiosamente o mais recente trabalho de um dos seus realizadores favoritos, Terrence Mallick. E nesta, como sempre, mostrou a sua visão única enquanto crítico: ""Well," I asked myself, "why not?" Why must a film explain everything? Why must every motivation be spelled out? Aren't many films fundamentally the same film, with only the specifics changed? Aren't many of them telling the same story? Seeking perfection, we see what our dreams and hopes might look like. We realize they come as a gift through no power of our own, and if we lose them, isn't that almost worse than never having had them in the first place?". Até sempre Roger Ebert. I'll see you at the movies, someday.