Hollywood’s Greatest Year: The Prophetic Genius of ‘Real Life,’ Albert Brooks’ Debut Comedy
Part of our film-by-film flashback to the cinematic glory of 1979
Cineplex ’79 is a new column from Rich Cohen, who is out to prove that 1979 was the greatest year in movie history, with a periodic look back at the best of the bunch. Previously: The China Syndrome.
My brother rented Real Life, then left the tape for me to find — like a case of beer, or an issue of Hustler. I slid it into the Magnavox (remember how those chunky tapes would lower when you pressed play, descending like a casket into the cold earth?), sat back, and let myself be remade.
This was Albert Brooks’ first film, a faux documentary. Released in March 1979, Real Life preceded and influenced This Is Spinal Tap and The Office and anticipated the monstrosity of reality TV. In it, Brooks plays a documentary filmmaker seeking to chronicle a year in the life of a perfect American family — the Yeagers of Phoenix, Arizona — while at the same time casting an eye on the process itself, like “a movie in a movie in a movie in a movie in a movie,” Brooks explains.
It’s Inception meets Documentary Now!
The movie taught me at least two things: One, that being…
