John Belushi could milk more laughter with a slight shift of the eyebrow than most comedians can with a pratfall. He transformed slobbery into an art form, and sewed danger into the heart of each gag. You’re familiar with talking heads documentaries, that effortless approach to filmmaking that transforms interview subjects into news anchors? Director R.J. Cutler’s Belushi could be the first talking mouths documentary. Many of the interviews were conducted via telephone by Tanner Colby over the months following Belushi’s death at age 33. The conversations, intended to form an oral history of Belushi’s life, are being heard here for the first time. Among those interviewed are Dan Aykroyd, Carrie Fisher, Harold Ramis, Lorne Michaels, brother Jim, the widow Belushi, Judith Belushi-Pisano, and dozens more. Belushi never felt comfortable with himself as an actor, choosing instead to go by the handle “disciplined anarchist” or sketch comic. What killed John Belushi? The biggest insight into his addictive personality came from Carrie Fisher: “Drugs aren’t the problem, sobriety is the problem… You’re not doing drugs for no reason. Once your management medication is removed, all those feelings that it’s been sitting on come up, and you have no coping skills.” There is no mention of the incidents surrounding his death or where he got the ingredients for the heroin and coke speedball that claimed him. Underneath footage of the coroner’s unit arriving at the Chateau Marmont, we hear John as Joliet Jake, singing Randy Newman’s “Guilty.” The song and the moment have stayed with me for days. (2020) — Scott Marks
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