Dreams With Sharp Teeth (2008)

This lively documentary poses and seeks to answer the question, "Who Is Harlan Ellison?" It does so in distinctly nonlinear fashion, the structure taking more the form of overlapping concentric circles of varying diameters, each representing an aspect of the reality of Ellison's life, then and now, from childhood right up to 2007. The defiantly iconoclastic, often pugnacious and abrasive personality of its subject is on display in varying close-ups, seen both in archival footage and vérité material shot for this film -- and the consistency is remarkable across the decades represented. Critics might say that Ellison has perfected his performance of a "role," but if it is, then it's a role that fits him like a second skin (and perhaps even closer to that). There are revelations along the way, including his Jewish background and upbringing, and what humor he doesn't mine from his persona and history, Robin Williams (who is seen on camera with the subject at various points) digs in and unearths, in all of its pungency. The result is less a formal biography than the cinematic equivalent of an Al Hirschfeld caricature, and just as accurate. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide