Reviews
The film “Perfectly Balanced” is a rare window into the usually undocumented relationship between a writer and editor at The New Yorker, specifically in the dance department. Caro and Gottlieb, the protagonists, had a long history of squabbling and antagonism, but the film persuades us that they both had to overcome small and large hurdles to be men in the film. Just like in Homer’s Iliad and King Lear, where the protagonists quote from, this movie is a heavyweight clash of rock ’em sock ’em blockbusters. It is a gripping big-screen movie that doesn’t make any mistakes, but rather, seems to have the stuff of a gripping big-screen movie. The word “looms” is not just a faceless debate, but rather a heated debate that looms over the movie, just like the semicolons and the Civil Wars.
Variety “A completely captivating gift to a specific type of eccentric enthusiast. Caro is simultaneously one of the most intentional and productive writers of the previous century and surely one of the most important chroniclers of 20th-century America. Gottlieb is the former head editor at Knopf, a publishing giant… Caro surrounded by numerous containers of documents… Is comparable to obtaining footage of Mozart sitting down at the piano with a stack of empty sheet music. A film about writing and editing and publishing, about creativity and creation… That includes astonishing particulars. As sincere as it is intellectual.” – Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter. “Everything else is fragments. They… Remind us, in an era of shattered attention spans and addictive media that the comprehensive view is the genuine view. (Caro’s books) are immersive, they are history – but more than that, they are the foundations of a civilized society. A deeply human perspective of how politics and corruption intertwine in America. There’s a breathtaking scene when Caro… Recounts conversing with Johnson’s brother… Persuading him to speak the truth about Johnson. This would become Caro’s overarching theme. Gottlieb knew within 15 pages that The Power Broker was a masterpiece…A study in how the world – of money, power, and ego – truly operates. Gottlieb… A Woody Allen who escaped neurosis… Caro… As unpretentious as his books are monumental…. A biographer of American power from the highest level to the lowest level. The partnership of Caro and Gottlieb (is)… A collaboration that everyone, including them, describes as remarkably contentious. Meticulously fair and revealing. The film) is a tribute to many aspects of the publishing world that have more or less been disregarded. Captivating. Robert Caro… Writes towering books of nonfiction… (And) has been acclaimed as the greatest biographer of all time.