YOU DON'T KNOW JACK (2010)

The only real flaw with this HBO telefilm is the title; the behind the scenes featurette indicates that even the subject of the film, right-to-die activist and thanatron inventor Dr. Jack Kevorkian, thought the title was stupid.  Could you come up with a fluffier, more dashed-off title for a biopic of a singularly important and immensely controversial figure in American ethics and medicine?  I tried to think of a few: Hi My Name Is Jack And I Kill People, The Life And Death Of Doctor Death, Hide Your Grandma, Death Ain't No Way To Make A Living, and Dr. Kevorkian Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Assisted Suicide.  Hmm...  All my titles are better.  But this is still a damn fine film, with numerous excellent performances centered around the showcase of Al Pacino as Kevorkian.

One of the best decisions made in this film is to not strip away the regional specifics.  Remember Fargo?  Think of that except its about Dr. Jack Kevorkian.  Oakland County Michigan is his home, and the movies doesn't waste any time in identifying Kevorkian's passion.  Early on he mumbles offhand when reading a medical journal 'they're already doing it in Europe' and that's almost all the motivation he needs.  Why should any American be denied the right to control their own destiny?  Pacino hooks up with his medical supplier and friend of 35 years, the avuncular voice of reason that is John Goodman, and begins his quest to end people's suffering.

Brenda Vacarro delivers a touching performance as Kevorkian's sister Margo, his staunchest and only real permanent ally; he also teams up with Susan Sarandon's Hemlock Society maven, but her support is inconsistent, leading to the historic first use of the mercy machine to be relocated from her house to a VW Bus in the woods.  Danny Huston with a distracting wig is the bulldog lawyer who defends Kevorkian, but cannot ever truly get him to listen to reason, and eventually parlays his fame into a Gubernatorial run.  James Urbaniak, better recognized as the voice of Dr. Venture on The Venture Brothers, plays a reporter who helps Kevorkian get the national attention he wants but also indulges his worst instincts to take things too far too fast.

Pacino won a well deserved Emmy for this part; he's currently filming another HBO biopic but this time he's portraying the Wall of Sound himself Phil Spector, the man of two passions: over-producing music and hurting women.  The performance here is much more subtle.  It honestly took me a little while to notice that Pacino was even doing an accent, although in retrospect it should have been pretty obvious.  He does a lot of talking to his sister, Margo, and he says her name a lot, Margo, and that 'o' sound is stretched and transformed so many different ways to fit his emotions.

There are some more typical Pacino moments, including a volcanic tirade, but Kevorkian is a much more spartan man and spartan performance.  He lives in a small ratty apartment hardly befitting any kind of doctor.  He wears ugly sweaters.  He never married.  His best friend is his sister.  He loves the music of JS Bach more than anything.  When eating pizza and playing cards with friends he declines dealing on account of his 'pizza fingers.'  He drives a VW bus.  He fondly recalls playing John Proctor in a school production of The Crucible and rattles off part of the climactic 'my name' speech to dinner guests.

The tone of this film is also a minor triumph.  It never falls into the trap of esteemed history, layering on the gravitas or importance of events, but it also never strays into outright comedy despite a few flirtations with inevitable gallows humor.  I would say that the film is quite obviously sympathetic to the cause and to the man, but it never even comes within spitting distance of being a hagiography or anti-religious polemic.  All the flaws and faults are presented, and when Kevorkian finally completes a suicide injection himself instead of allowing the patient to activate the device (very important legal distinction) its hard to not feel that he's quite clearly gone too far.

Hi I'm Death