If you are like me and have any interest in Elliott Smith, you have probably already watched most of his interviews available on YouTube, the Carson Daily MTV one, the Janeane Garofalo one, the VH1 one, etc,… and the one when he says :
‘Playing things too safe is the most popular way to fail. Dying is another popular way. Killing your emotions with drugs or alcohol is another popular way. Those would be types of failure.’
So if you have seen these, you have seen the most interesting part of Gil Reyes’ documentary ‘Searching for Elliott Smith’, because the movie does not go deeper than that. The rest is a collection of interviews of fans and people who knew him more or less, like Smith’s high school teacher David Bailey, Cavity Search Records co-founders Denny Swofford and Chris Cooper, Jackpot! Studios founder Larry Crane, video directors Steve Hanft and Ross Harris, friends and musicians Mary Lou Lord, Robin Peringer and Jason Mason, musician and producer David McConnell, In Music We Trust editor Alex Steininger, film director Gus Van Sant, Portland musicians Tony Lash, Pete Krebs and Sean Croghan (yes you see A LOT of him), and of course, girlfriend Jennifer Chiba.
I went to a screening of the documentary on Saturday afternoon at the Hayworth theater in Los Angeles, but, the fact there was a Q&A after the screening was certainly the main attraction.
The documentary pretends to be about a musician but there is actually very little use of his music, for the good reason that Gil Reyes did not get the authorization to use Elliott Smith’s music from the estate: Jennifer Chiba being involved, the family declined him the rights and all you can hear during the movie is ‘Miss Misery’ and ‘Plainclothes Man’ because Harris, who participates in the movie, made the videos for these songs, and ‘Between the bars’ because it was used in ‘Goodwill Hunting’, Gus Van Sant’s Oscar wining movie.
Past this disappointment, the portrait built along the movie turned around Elliott’s depressive nature, and right away, when Reyes interviews his high school teacher at the beginning of the movie, it is about young Smith’s angst. Although Mr. Bailey says he did not see more teenager anxiety in him than in any of his other students, there is much more talk about depression with Sean Croghan, and this has a tendency to become more than annoying after a while.
I know that Elliott Smith had problems, that he suffered from depression, but was that all you could say about him? There’s a little bit question of how funny he was, and how much he wanted to challenge himself with music, but a few minutes in a 80-minute movie is barely enough.
After a very brief description of his career, from the Heatmiser days to Roman Candle, to his Grammy award nomination for ‘Miss Misery’, illustrated by pictures seen everywhere on the internet (I even recognized one I took at a concert!), Sean Croghan talks about the depressive nature of Portland, ‘the doom town’ and Smith’s taste in music (Dylan, the Beatles,… a big scoop!), and literature (James Joyce), Pete Krebs describes an anxious Elliott telling him he may one day succumb to drugs because of his addictive nature, and there is an awkward ‘strange parallel’ drawn between Smith, the ‘music genius’ and Matt Damon’s character, the ‘math genius’ in Goodwill Hunting.
Whenever Sean Croghan opens his mouth, it is to talk about Elliott’s suicidal thoughts (the New York subway story, the cliff story), and his self center nature ‘he was always talking about his problems’ … Whenever David McConnell is on screen, it is to talk about Elliott's abusive step-dad, the source of all his problems, and his heavy use of drugs,… the movie seems to be built around this idea that Elliott had always thought about killing himself.
At this point I was boiling on my seat because McConnell was presenting himself as Elliott’s savior: ‘he was safer in my house in Malibu’, rather than getting scared by street drug dealers, but not once he made an allusion to the fact that he was probably taking as much drug as Elliott at that time, in this safe Malibu place!
There was actually very little talk about how Elliott was composing for example and from that moment, the documentary focused almost entirely on his death with Chiba in the middle of the action, crying when narrating the timeline of the events of the day he died.
She presented herself as someone who dated Elliott on and off before he went on tour in Europe and came back with… a girlfriend. Since ‘it did not work out with his girlfriend’, she said he called her to get some help after his detoxification treatment.
Starting there, she painted a terrible picture of Elliott, and if some of it is probably true, all she was talking about was that taking care of him at that time was ‘a lot of work’, and that he had a cutting behavior because he had stopped taking his meds.
Then she described what happened on October 21st: they were arguing about several things, among them the fact that she had an appointment to see a doctor and some plans for the day. She described a paranoiac Elliott who believed the house was bugged. After locking herself in the bathroom, because she was ‘going crazy herself’, Elliott was knocking on the door, saying he was sorry and loved her, but after she stayed there for 5 or 10 minutes, she heard a terrible noise coming from the kitchen: he was standing at the kitchen sink, his back facing her and when he turned around she saw the knife and pulled it out. ‘It was real’ she said, ‘Elliott was gasping for air’, and she was afraid he would jump from the balcony. Finally she called 911 after he had collapsed.
The end of the movie focused on justifying Chiba’s action and finding logical things to explain the weirdness of the case. Robin Peringer heated up and defended her saying that people who are suspicious because she removed the knife are basically idiots who don’t know what they would have done in her ‘fucking position’.
The ‘possible defensive’ cuts were once again explained by Elliott’s cutting behavior and there was even a strange Steve Hanft’s intervention suggesting that Elliott was wearing leather bracelets to cover something on his wrists…. Err may be Mr. Hanft should have read the autopsy report, Elliott’s wrists were totally intact, he may have been a cutter but not a wrist-cutter.
Ross Harris described him in physical pain the week he died, Sean Croghan ironically guffawed he was ‘in shock’ when he learnt about Elliott’s suicide…. Only Larry Crane declared he was 100% surprised as he was supposed to fly to LA in 10 days to help him with his album.
The movie concluded with two sentences, one telling about Chiba’s lawsuit, one saying that a LAPD detective had confessed to Reyes he believed it was a suicide. And I am still bewildered about that one, because I know that the police cannot say anything about the case since it is an open case. Another person and I have spoken to 2 different LAPD detectives about the case and I know what I’m talking about.
During the Q&A with director Gil Reyes, Jennifer Chiba, Shon Sullivan (Goldenboy) and Jennifer Cuellar (who did the illustrations in the movie), I had the chance to ask J. Chiba a question. I asked her how she explained to the police she had removed the knife since she had been a therapist (and so known CPR) since 1995, and what she may have done, and will you do to help the police close the case. Of course I did not get much from her, as she said that she had already explained everything about the knife in the movie (all she says is that she did not know and wanted to help him), that she had already talked to the police over and over, and that they were a lot of false rumors on the internet,….like her refusal to talk to the police. Except that this is stated in the autopsy report, I am gonna quote it:
‘Additionally, the girlfriend’s reported removal of the knife and subsequent refusal to speak with detectives are all of concern’. So I don’t know about these 'internet rumors'.
Another person also asked about the editing of a scene, as the part when Chiba and Reyes go to confront the LAPD to kill this ‘rumor’, has been edited out. To what Reyes answered it was both a question of ‘not looking good’ and a question of the length of the film,… also he was not sure about the legality of filming inside the LAPD office.
I also learned that Chiba did not go to the hospital with Elliott but got there an hour later when he was already dead, and that she is currently working on a book focusing on her memoir about her life with Elliott Smith (She lived with him less than a year).
She looked fragile, answering to the questions very kindly, looking like a sad and mourning widow, saying that ‘horrible things had been said about her’, whereas she ‘had lost the love of her life’. And sure it can be very convincing.
I have many problems with Elliott portrayed this way, but may be the most disturbing thing is her double talk:
Jennifer Chiba suddenly had forgotten she was a therapist, with a specific training, and did not know she could not remove a knife stuck into a chest. But when Elliott was ‘into the drugs’ when he was with her, ‘he was flaky and isolated’, and she was doing all she could ‘to keep him social, … being a therapist’.
Elliott was depicted as someone who was ‘suffering from a serious mental illness’ (her own words) and paranoiac, but lucid and rational enough to promise her that ‘she would be his manager and agent responsible for booking and scheduling his appearances for musical performances, and that she would be entitled to 15 percent of the proceeds earned and received on all of Smith's performances and album sales’. I am just quoting her deposition testimony when she sued the estate in September 2004, and it is a lot of details from a mentally ill person.
After the screening and Q&A, an anonymous person sent this to me:
‘He edited his film because it made Chiba look worse than she already does?? So much for artistic integrity!
Which thought is more indicative of mental illness: that he thought the house was bugged, or that he thought he was going to have children with her?!!!'
I could not agree more, a proof that not everyone is buying the image of the deplored widow.
This Q & A told us a lot about this documentary, it was not that much about Elliott, more about Chiba, and his death,… no I mean his suicide, because it is difficult to imagine something more bias than this painful demonstration that Elliott was a depressed suicidal individual who was always talking about killing himself. I don’t deny that part of him, but if you call your documentary ‘Searching for Elliott Smith’ and all you are finding is this overused cliché, this sad sack cartoon figure he despised so much when he was alive, well, I am not sure you have accomplished anything.
‘Poor Ms. Chiba? Look at the autopsy report. She also tried to sue his family for rights to his music, why? Because she cared SO much about him? Give me a break! The wounds were determined to be non-self inflicted. The suicide note was in fact a post it note with a song lyric on it. It was not dated, and he used to write that way as he came up with lyrics for his music. The only people there were “Ms. Chiba” and Elliot. She DID NOT want to cooperate with the police, and this sloppy gimmick of a sad excuse for a “documentary” was a scheme to clear the self-absorbed money hungry little c-nt. Has this guy ever directed anything before? I can’t believe he did. He’s so full of sht with his cameo looking into the sky praising Elliot Smith and his work.. BULLSHT. The dude was $ with this idea. He’s like a car salesman. He knew how to pitch this and she saw this as a win win situation. “I’ll clear my name and make a lot of cash.”
Suggesting that people need to focus on other things and get mental help and then telling them to “brush thru that French mop on your empty head” ?? Yeah- That says a lot about YOU sweety. Keep enabling criminals and scammers. Let them just live a new life and clean the slate. Well FK YOU very much,’
Alyson, I went on Sunday and I have similar feelings. I did not go to that film and Q&A with the opinion of what happened either way. Honestly, I went with the intention of wanting to hear her side, wanting to believe that she had nothing to do w/ his death, but I left feeling the opposite. When Mary Lou Lord spoke about Elliott, it was like she could barely speak, the pain was so intense. No, she didn’t have tears streaming like Jennifer or this overly compensating display, but that’s what made Mary Lou so intense, and she wasn’t there when he died. I did not see that kind of emotion from Jennifer. It seemed forced. I really wanted to believe her. I sat down wanting to believe her. When I left, everything felt wrong. The lying about the lawsuit, not talking to police, etc. I fact checked all night. Then to find out that portion of talking to police was edited out of the film… The book plug, the plug for her being a marriage and family therapist… Seriously? If my marriage were in trouble this would be he last person I would seek help from.
Phaedout:
So many responses, so few responsible for them. Anyone: Fri. 5/13 1:30 Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf N/E corner Beverly Bl. & Robertson. Let me know, so much of this is petty and below the belt. Gil, are you there ?
I don’t know if it was an invitation for me, but I am working at that time… I’m free after 4:30
So many stories? again all these people talking about Elliott are saying he was depressed, was taking drugs,…. there is a little bit of what you are saying, but way too little
I am not the one attributing these dark moments to clear her name,… come on, when you listen to these people saying he wanted to kill himself, and then you see the brilliant demonstration that his death was a suicide, what can be concluded?
Lighter sides? there is a little bit, of yes he was funny, but there is almost nothing else.
Contrary to you and other Chiba’s defenders, I am sure of nothing, but I am not sure of her innocence, and I don’t have ‘personal’ problems with her, it is silly. I have problems with her exploiting Elliott’s memory as she does.
She volunteered to do this Q&A and you call it harassment?
My last sentence is not bias, this is what they want, the demonstration at the end of the movie is there to prove it.
Have you read this review:
http://www.elizabethnolanbrown.com/?p=1312
Because, apparently I’m not the only one to have such a bias opinion about the movie.
a few more things:
They push the Elliott-was-a-cutter thing so much at the end of the movie to explain the possible defensive wounds, I talked recently to Dr. Scheinin and she said these were absolutely not compatible with self-cutting, so they should stop this insane explanation. It is false. The Dr. said they could have been made by accident, but these cuts are not self-cutting.
Her explanation of the lawsuit…. this is absolutely not the claim she made:
‘On July 30, 2004, Chiba sued Greenwald for breach of oral contract, quantum meruit, declaratory relief and constructive trust.
The complaint alleged that Chiba and Smith entered into an oral agreement in August 2002. Chiba and Smith allegedly agreed to “live together, cohabitate and combine their efforts and earnings,” “share equally any and all property accumulated as a result of their efforts whether individual or combined,” and “hold themselves out to the public as husband and wife.” The complaint claimed Smith promised to provide for Chiba’s “financial needs and support for the rest of her life” in exchange for her domestic services as his “homemaker, housekeeper, cook, secretary, bookkeeper and financial counselor,” “forgo[ing] any independent career opportunities.”
so she has to decide why she sued…
And she lied, I have to repeat it, when she said her refusal to talk to the police is a rumor… It is stated in the police/autopsy report, I don’t consider police reports as rumors.
Black Star — I don’t think Alyson is saying Elliott Smith didn’t have problems — he did – indeed — read everything else she has written. BUT – it still remains that there are other things missing from the big picture, so any glaring inaccuracies from the “people in the know” stand out that much more. That is what she has chosen to bring to light here because it is largely ignored elsewhere. Not because she fails to see how “beautiful” Elliott Smith’s work or legacy is to those who appreciated and loved him. On the contrary, she is saying to honor the person, not the hype — and make it right.
I didn’t say that I believed her, I am relaying information. What I’m trying to say is she deserves to give her side of the story regardless of what anyone thinks happened that day (and honestly NOBODY knows except for her) because it is HER VERSION and hers alone. Why does anyone deserve to be harrassed because they are saying what they know?
How can you say that your review is not biased when more than half of it is about your personal problems with Jennifer Chiba whereas less than a quarter of the film itself was about her and more about Elliott’s life as it was? There were SO MANY BEAUTIFUL STORIES in this documentary but you seem hellbent on focusing and bitching about the darker aspects that obviously had to be included because that was the person he was!…. not to mention that it sounds like you are attempting to attribute each and every dark moment to supposedly clearing J Chiba’s name. I think the film did a great job of showing BOTH of ES’s dark and lighter sides. It almost sounds like you refuse to acknowledge that ES had problems which added to the person he was, and are using this documentary as an excuse to attack J Chiba because these dark things were included. More importantly, if you are sure she did it, why haven’t you gone to the police with your evidence or witnesses? if you have neither of these things then you should be ashamed for harrassing someone you DON’T EVEN PERSONALLY KNOW.
“this woman turned him into a suicide machine, she should be ashamed.”
Yeah and I guess your review isn’t really that biased. My bad.
So many responses, so few responsible for them. Anyone: Fri. 5/13 1:30 Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf N/E corner Beverly Bl. & Robertson. Let me know, so much of this is petty and below the belt. Gil, are you there ?
Black Star
so she would say anything, and you would believe it!
My article is not bias, all the interviews turned around his depressive nature, of course there are a few stories like you said, but there have so little time in the movie it is ridiculous. I said it, I mention the explanation of strange parallel which I really dislike anyway, math genius, music genius….pfff
and Steve Hanft is a liar too, Elliott was not wearing these leather bracelets to hide the fact he was cutting his writs, how could he say this? what a friend he is!
‘J Chiba regretted not allowing Elliott to write a will because a lawsuit would have never happened. She refused to let him write a will because she thought that allowing him to write one would give him more of a license to kill himself.’
This should really infuriate many people, this woman turned him into a suicide machine, she should be ashamed.
Thanks for the write up! I think it’s healthy to propose these questions and not helpful to attack *coughmissydcough*
My interpretation of this article, even though emotional, is inquisitive and doesn’t deserve such an immediately hateful response. what good does that do?
Is this the same documentary I watched on Sunday night? It sounds more like a review of the last ten minutes or so of the film (which if I recall was not “entirely on his death”). If anything what I took away from this documentary was what an amazing guy Elliott was, instead of his depressive nature and death (which obviously had to be discussed at some point because ES’s life was not all happiness). You failed to mention everything else that was in this film that I loved about it, including the lovely story behind the Miss Misery video, Ross Harris’ story about how generous he was after filming the Coming Up Roses vid, the early Heatmiser days, all of Sean’s stories about their funny jokes, the explanation of Strange Parallel and where all the stories came from, etc As for Jennifer’s recollection about the day, were you expecting a confession that she did it if she knows for a fact (or plain wants to say) that she didn’t do it? You also missed out on Sunday’s q and a where she explained why she sued the family… Elliott told her that if something happened to him, that he didn’t want his family to have control over his music because they would censor it, change it, and destroy the integrity of it, which they did when they decided not to release songs like “See You In Heaven,” “Abused” and “Suicide Machine”. Liam Gowing (who wrote “that” Spin article) who was there for q and a also added that he knew this was true, and J Chiba regretted not allowing Elliott to write a will because a lawsuit would have never happened. She refused to let him write a will because she thought that allowing him to write one would give him more of a license to kill himself.
Sigh, I can’t believe I spent time writing all this out but seriously, your review is more biased than you are trying to make this documentary out to be. I’m more than happy it was made.
PS If this reposts, fix your shitty server please.
Is this the same documentary I watched on Sunday night? It sounds more like a review of the last ten minutes or so of the film (which if I recall was not “entirely on his death”). If anything what I took away from this documentary was what an amazing guy Elliott was, instead of his depressive nature and death (which obviously had to be discussed at some point because ES’s life was not all happiness). You failed to mention everything else that was in this film that I loved about it, including the lovely story behind the Miss Misery video, Ross Harris’ story about how generous he was after filming the Coming Up Roses vid, the early Heatmiser days, all of Sean’s stories about their funny jokes, the explanation of Strange Parallel and where all the stories came from, etc As for Jennifer’s recollection about the day, were you expecting a confession that she did it if she knows for a fact (or plain wants to say) that she didn’t do it? You also missed out on Sunday’s q and a where she explained why she sued the family… Elliott told her that if something happened to him, that he didn’t want his family to have control over his music because they would censor it, change it, and destroy the integrity of it, which they did when they decided not to release songs like “See You In Heaven,” “Abused” and “Suicide Machine”. Liam Gowing (who wrote “that” Spin article) who was there for q and a also added that he knew this was true, and J Chiba regretted not allowing Elliott to write a will because a lawsuit would have never happened. She refused to let him write a will because she thought that allowing him to write one would give him more of a license to kill himself.
Sigh, I can’t believe I spent time writing all this out but seriously, your review is more biased than you are trying to make this documentary out to be. I’m more than happy it was made.
Thank you for this article. She really rubs me the wrong way and I would have been burning in my skin being in the same room as her. Even if she didn’t kill him, I still find her deplorable. Suing his family for his money after his death? Bitch, who do you think you are?
These very deep hurling insults comes from the same person obviously. It is perhaps the one who feels most insulted? Gil, is that you? Cuz you know we recognize the style in your spin.
Gil, is that you hurling nasty insults hiding behind your computer?
Gil, is that you with the nasty insults?
Well… True…I don’t know what Elliott would think of you showing up at “Elliott Smith” events — particularly since he probably wouldn’t enjoy showing up at said events himself — but I do know “Chez Pepe” would think you ROCK a dirty MOP, BEBE! GO ALYSON!!! YEAH — TO ALL AND ANY EVENTS!!!!
I have a proposition for you, since you think I ran out and you did not have the time to ‘counter my insulting question’, may be we could meet.
I actually have a lot of other questions to ask,… and bring all the people ‘in the know in the Elliott Smith world’, I said I have a lot of questions.
I am serious.
Harass her at every event? It was the first time I was seeing her at any event, what are you talking about!
My questions were legitimate and she answered them. Why didn’t you ask me a question right away?
I did not run out at all, I actually took all my time to leave, thinking people would ask me a question, nobody did.
I saw the same film that you did and completely disagree with your assessment.
According to those in the know in the Elliott Smith world, you are ‘that crazy lady who harasses Jennifer Chiba at every event.” Your query was rude, obnoxious and completely out of place. Do you think that Elliott Smith would approve of your harassing his girlfriend at every turn? Were you present at the scene of his death?
Perhaps you should spend less of your valuable time being an asshole and focus instead on pulling a brush thru’ that dirty mop that sits atop your empty head.
Don’t you have anything better to do than to spew hate and show up at Elliott Smith events and harass poor Ms. Chiba? You should be ashamed of yourself and your rudeness. Do you think that Elliott would appreciate your hassling his girlfriend? You were SO obnoxiou at the film event this past Saturday and you ran out before anyone could counter your insulting questions. You need psychological assistance, and FAST.
PS
Instead of spending all of your time harassing Ms. Chiba, perhaps you should focus on your more immediate needs, such as running a brush thru’ that French mop on your fucking empty head.