It is the season to remember the legendary marriage and professional relationship between Lucille Ball (and Desi Arnaz). Aaron Sorkin directed this moving, funny, insightful, and revealing film.Being The RicardosIt covers a lot of ground within the Lucy/Desi world, using dramatic licence to place real events in their life all in one week of production.I Love Lucy.The iconic couple was played by Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem and it felt very real.This wasas you discover watching Amy Poehler’s marvelous love letter to their lives and times inLucy and DesiThis is what I likeRicardoswill be available on Amazon Prime, the perfect companion piece to Sorkin’s film, and a compelling documentary portrait all on its own.
Poehler clearly is an admirer and she has been given the keys to the kingdom here with tremendous access into never-before-publicly-seen home movies, as well as audio tapes hidden away for decades that enables her to, like the recent documentary on John Belushi, create the effect that Ball and Arnaz are narrating their own story, And what a story it is. Poehler covers it all from Lucy’s early movie stardom as queen of the B’s to Desi’s success as a musical star from Cuba all on his own, the merging of those hearts and talents as radio gave way to television and Lucy, wanting her marriage desperately to work, got Desi off the road and into the studio as Ricky Ricardo to her Lucy Ricardo in a CBS sitcom that has never been off the air to this day.
This show was truly groundbreaking. But, as Poehler demonstrates, it was just the beginning. Lucy as well as Desi were far ahead of their time. Desi, as a pioneering producer, launched their production company into the big league producing such shows.Star Trek, Mission: Impossible – The UntouchablesDesilu was the star of a series of sitcoms as well as many others. Paramount bought Desilu for a good chunk of cash. They married in 1960, after which their unusual and successful marriage was ended.Lucy Desi Comedy HourLucy filed for divorce, but the love never died and it prevailed right up to the last moments of Desi’s life. Lucy died three years later, and Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill’s story of their final moments is as moving and gripping as it gets. Lucie is not the only interviewee Poehler was able to coax, but he did manage to get a key one. There is also some limited time with Desi Arnaz Jr. , Norman Lear, Carol Burnett, Charo, and Bette Midler among the best known, but also just as importantly other contributors who helped give the behind the scenes truth to one of the great love stories, divorce or not, and notably they include sons of originalI Love LucyProducer Jess Oppenheimer, and Marc Daniels, among others.
If you’ve seenBeing The Ricardosthen you know about the infamous accusations about Lucy being a member of the communist party, quite accidentally and innocently by the way, and you know about Desi’s philandering ways, and the now head-scratching momentous decision to turn Lucille Ball’s own pregnancy into an unheard of at that time pregnancy on television. In those days you couldn’t even use the word. It is a wealth of information that is easy to digest. This biodoc is not just a simple overview, but it really digs into why this couple is beloved. The incredible color home movie footage by Poehler is well worth the admission fee. She proves to be a skilled documentaryist. She is able to see beneath the surface, and come up with some wonderful moments that are worth savoring. Poehler truly loves Lucy and should. Amy Poehler would not have been possible without that red-headed pioneer. Just think about it. It’s nice that she is showing her appreciation for all things Lucy and Desi.
Lucy and DesiPremiered today at the Sundance Film Festival. It will be available on Amazon starting in March. It was written by Mark Monroe. Poehler is the producer. Monroe, Michael Rosenberg and Justin Wilkes are Justin Wilkes, Jeanne Elfant Festa as well as Nigel Sinclair. Amazon Studios Presentation includes Imagine Documentaries, White Horse Pictures and White Horse Pictures.