Hubert Selby Jr: It/ll Be Better Tomorrow (2005)

"A scream looking for a mouth..."

Hubert "Cappy" Selby, Jr. doesn't have the name recognition in the US that an author of his caliber deserves. One of the things "It/ll be Better Tomorrow"* tries to do is to suggest an explanation for this: that Selby's vision of American life was just too bleak for mainstream Americans to stomach. "America," as one of the film's interviewees remarks, "is the happiness machine. Americans don't want to believe that Selby's descriptions are accurate." Selby himself said that the American dream was all about "getting things," and his rage at what he saw as the hypocrisy of such a lifestyle was part of the reason he once described himself as "a scream looking for a mouth."

Selby was a Brooklyn kid who joined the Merchant Marines when he was 15 (during WWII), contracted tuberculosis, endured a four-year stint in hospitals and multiple surgeries, and suffered bad health for the rest of his life. Hospital morphine led to heroin and alcohol addition, which Selby finally kicked only at the age of 40. Even after the publication of his best and most lucrative novel, Last Exit to Brooklyn, his years of addiction reduced him at times to penury. So there were very personal reasons for his rage as well.

Selby's typewriter became the mouth through which he screamed. In his novels and short stories he created worlds in which alienation, grime, violence, frustrated love, and betrayal were given centerstage. As a longtime friend remarks in the film, Selby "takes you to a world you really don't want to be in. He makes you live there. It's claustrophobic." His books so shocked and outraged conventional sensibilities that they generated two obscenity trials. (Billy Graham especially went after Selby.) The more famous one, in England, was eventually won on appeal by John Mortimer of "Rumpole" fame, and established a landmark precedent in regards to freedom of expression.

"It/ll be Better Tomorrow" goes to great pains to claim that underneath all of the rage and bleakness of Selby's work was a great spirituality of hope (the word "spiritual" is used on numerous occasions throughout the film), a conviction that even though we go through the fire, we somehow usually manage to limp through to the other side. But it's not clear to me that the film defends this claim. Except for Selby's final and uneven novel, The Willow, there seems little evidence of hope or redemption in the worlds he creates. Characters generally end up where they began: in an exitless limbo.

And this suggests an additional reason why Selby isn't a better known author in the US: he's no more a fun read than, say, Beckett. His innovative style may inspire us, and his dark rendering of the American dream may sober us enough to prompt self-examination. But at the same time, most of us, if we're honest, would probably admit to feeling oppressed when reading him. This isn't a criticism so much as an observation. But it's an observation which the film, otherwise so insightful, refuses to make.
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* One of Selby's many punctuational idiosyncracies was a refusal to use apostrophes. Thus the "I/ll" rather than "I'll" in the film's title. June 12, 2008

Informative and moving. A fitting tribute.

"HUBERT SELBY JR: IT/LL BE BETTER TOMORROW" Directed by Michael W. Dean and Kenneth Shiffrin



Hubert Selby is the author of "Last Exit to Brooklyn" and "Requiem for a Dream". Michael W. Dean and Kenneth Shiffrin have done a great service by shedding illumination on the history of this author and the importance of his work.

Dean and Shiffrin create a documentary that allows Hubert Selby's story to unfold in heart-breaking and fascinating detail, using a combination of interviews, historical footage, and video of Hubert Selby himself during the final period of his life.

The author is shown in an emaciated state, struggling for breath, near death. It seems both ironic and remarkable, then, that the film is able to present Hubert Selby as a true survivor. Selby survived childhood tuberculosis, (according to the film, he was the only one in his hospital ward who DID survive). He survived a stint in the military. He survived heroin addiction. He survived mental illness. He survived an obscenity trial for his writing. At age 40, he found himself alive, sober, and impoverished. At the end of his life, at age 75, he found himself in the position of a revered author, influence, and inspiration to several generations of creative individuals. He had gone from being the subject of a witch-hunt to the subject of academia. He himself had become a university professor, teaching almost until the time of his death.

The film is narrated in a low-key manner by Robert Downey Jr, who may have found something to relate to in Selby's personal struggles.

Selby emerges as a true genius; bending, modifying, and creating his own systems of language to more appropriately and precisely express himself. It's satisfying and just to have his life and work documented by this thoughtful and well-crafted film, at the time of his passing. I hope "HUBERT SELBY JR: IT/LL BE BETTER TOMORROW" serves as a catalyst to create further interest in this fascinating artist. September 28, 2007

Informative documentary of my favorite novelist

It had to be about 1991 when I finally came across an old dusty library copy of Selby's Last Exit to Brooklyn; I had recently seen Uli Edel's excellent film adaptation and was always curious about the book. I promptly sat down and for the next four hours devoured Selby's classic. It's such a great work that I make it a point to re-read it at least once every few years.

When I lived in Greenwich Village in the mid 1990s everyone seemed crazy about the Beats, I'd mention Selby and a lot of them barely knew who he was. For me, Kerouac and the rest of them, though damn good at what they did, just don't match up to Selby's genius level. I recall I borrowed my copy of his book of short stories, Song of the Silent Snow, to a gal who lived in my building, after all these years I still haven't gotten it back.

It/ll Be Better Tomorrow gets into everything Selby, from his youth in Brooklyn, his days in the merchant Marine, the heroin addiction, the debilitating TB, his early attempts at writing, the life of penury, it's all here in detail. Interesting commentary touches on the development of his unique and certainly eccentric style that utilizes the ever present Selby /slash/ and different paragraph indentations. Readers who haven't read any of his books have no idea what in the hell that means, but once you read one of his works you'll realize that he doesn't always use regular punctuation and definitely has his own style of setting up words on paper. All one has to do is see a single paragraph of his writing and it's immediately identifiable.

A nice array of notables comment on Selby's life throughout the documentary. Arguably the closest writer to him presently, Richard Price, adds some interesting thoughts, while Ellen Burstyn, Henry Rollins, Amiri Baraka, and various actors and writers discuss his life and work. The best additions to the film are simply the stories provided from his boyhood pals in Brooklyn who surprisingly were able to stay in touch with him throughout his life.

August 17, 2007

Hubert Selby Jr: It/ll Be Better Tomorrow - Authentically presents THE SECRET

I saw this film in the theater and I couldn't wait to be able to purchase it on DVD. It would've been nice to have been able to meet Cubby Selby in person - the directors, Kenneth Shiffrin and Michael W. Dean, did more than deliver a film - they create an outlet for us all to spend a moment with this unsung artist.

The insight this movie gives into the world of Cubby Selby is pretty astonishing. I certainly wasn't expecting to be handed keys to his creative process while simultaneously being uplifted by the journey of this absolute spiritual being who was unapologetically human.

Cause for both tears and laughter... this film will touch your heart. June 28, 2007

Applause for this film...

This is a truly great film - actually drove me to tears, which does not happen very often these days. Of course, I had already seen "Last Exit To Brooklyn" and had been severly affected (er, shocked) by it, but I had never bothered to take a look at the human being behind the script.

Dean and Shiffrin have done an amazing job of telling a story that was no doubt fairly overwhelming to piece together. So much happened to Selbert during his life that it's hard to imagine being able to distill it all down into seventy-nine minutes. (It's worth noting that the DVD comes with much additional interview footage that did not fit into the final cut. The directors should be applauded for including all of this seminal commentary for the viewer and not just leaving it on the cutting room floor)

I was so impressed by this film that I went online and ordered a copy of Selbert's book: "The Willow Tree".

I am hoping that colleges here in the US will begin to include this film as part of any course on modern American literature, as it sure portrays one man's honest view of the American experience, a view that is not necessarily the most evident anymore (and which has been all but swept under the rug by modern American advertising).


-->S.


May 27, 2007

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