Review of Love, Gilda (2018) by Wolf M — 23 Apr 2018

Never have I seen a film that so entirely and honestly encompasses its subject, which says something exceptionally profound when you realize how complex and multifaceted every aspect of Gilda Radner's life and personality were. No not were, are. Because with this stunning documentary Gilda is alive again; reborn in the hearts of fans new and old, resurrected in the glow of the spotlight where she is getting new laughs, bigger laughs.

I was 11 years old when I discovered Gilda Radner. It was the second day of summer vacation after seventh grade and the Not Ready for Prime Time Players era of SNL was to marathon all summer long. A promo flashed a quick glimpse of Gilda as Roseanne Roseannadanna and my mother casually pointed out "That was Gene Wilder's wife". "What's her name?" I asked. In a moment straight out of a teen soap opera, I very dramatically dropped my metallic purple walkman and watched my Cher's Greatest Hits CD roll under the fridge when I heard her name. "GILDA?!" I was sold on just her name and that wacky hair alone. I ran downstairs to our clunky desktop computer and googled her. The first result: Gilda Radner died May 20, 1989 of ovarian cancer.

I was gutted. But not dissuaded. I spent each moment of the next two months soaking up every piece of Gilda's life and career that I could. I absorbed her autobiography cover to cover in one day, BUNNY BUNNY by Alan Zweibel in just an afternoon, HANKY PANKY (1982) with Gene and Richard Widmark until my copy stopped playing, GILDA LIVE until I had every line memorized, every sketch she did on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE at least twice (and every Bobbi Farber sketch more than a dozen times, Fran Fine eat your heart out!) and all the while her audiobook put me to bed in a mess of tears and laughter each night.

In all the years since that day Gilda has never been dead despite what that first Google search said. Her presence has always been palpable, her light ever radiant, the sound of her laughter always there in your ear, Roseanne in your mind with a gruff "It's Always Something!" when you suddenly get a flat tire or a toe nail in your hamburger. But now, with LOVE, GILDA she's more than not dead. She is alive.

Every second of the film she is alive. In every word scrawled across the screen in a typeface of her own handwriting, in every animation made from her preciously scribbled doodles, in every clip of her voice in varying shades of health and emotion as she narrates her own story, in every home video which endears Gilda to each heart with her vulnerable charm, in every photo of her enormous gleaming smile that illustrates both Gilda's pursuit of happiness in even the most difficult moments and her far too often overlooked beauty she is alive.

Next year will mark 30 years since Gilda Radner lost her hard-fought battle with cancer. I will never be able to thank Lisa D'Apolito for giving Gilda back to all of us. For giving us access and new insight to aspects of Gilda's journey that deserve to be told, for putting Gilda back into the world especially for those of us who are too young to have ever experienced that.

Gilda Radner said "I always wanted a happy ending... Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle and end." With her incredible tribute, Lisa has proven that though Gilda's story was cut short, it never ended. This, a theater full of laughing people applauding and admiring all that she genuinely was, is Gilda's happy ending.