Eye of the Beholder - Movie Review
I always love it when something pops up on Amazon Prime that I didn’t know about, and this weekend lightning struck with “Eye of the Beholder : The Art of Dungeons and Dragons”.
Directed by Kelley Slagle and Brian Stillman, the documentary provides insight, inspiration and interviews to some of the games greatest artists. The film was so well received, that at the 2018 GenCon – it sold out three showings and won Best Documentary.
What I particularly liked about the movie is that it has a little something for everyone. As an old school gamer, a lot of the art shown represents what I grew up with – solidifying the films claim that art is a major factor in the game. I cannot describe the countless hours I poured over books and modules, my minds eye capturing those images and translating to my games. At times, it was fascinating to hear how pictures came to life, how the artist tackles particular subject or just what their day to day lives were like working for TSR.
Three artists in particular really stood out to me.
First was Keith Parkinson. Actually, Keith’s part is narrated by his son Nick. Sadly, Keith passed away in 2005 from a battle with acute myelogenous leukemia (ALM), but the films producers smartly captured Keith’s impact though his son. This combined with other homages from the artists truly showed the love Keith had for his craft, and the respect and admiration of his peers.
Lost by Keith Parkinson
Christopher Burdett has an amazing quote – “I am every monster in all of my work”. He goes on to show some stills and finished art, and it truly allows you (as a viewer) to understand how he put his art together.
Christopher Burdett demonstrating how he is “every monster” in his work.
Finally – everything with Larry Elmore is a gem. Larry is probably one of the quintessential artists in fantasy genre…not just D&D, and that is reflected by the way other artists interviewed revered his work. I cannot imagine the game in the 80s without him – as his contributions to Dragon Magazine, D&D as a whole and Dragonlance in particular, captured the essence of scene – bringing these mythical worlds to life. An added joy was seeing him in his studio – where one of the prominent pieces displayed is the piece call “The Gate”, done by Elmore from GaryCon – and it also gives a nudge/wink shoutout to the Grateful Dead. Steph and I had a chance to meet Elmore – and we purchased a signed copy……which hang in our bedroom to this day.
Larry Elmore in his studio & our copy of “The Gate”
In addition to the above artists, there are some great anecdotes and stories sprinkled throughout the film – in particular, a description by Peggy Cooper (Art Coordinator) on how she managed artists and Tony Diterlizzi (Artist) on how he tried to get his foot in the door.
While the overall documentary is good – it is a bit long at 90 minutes. A little heavier hand in the editing booth would have benefitted those new to the genre – with a better runtime being around 60-75 minutes. A great place to start would have been trimming Brynn Metheney, Saribel Pages and Satine Phoenix’s parts. Both Metheney and Phoenix did provide some art to the game – none of it really jumps out at me, nor do I recognize them as being significant contributors. Meanwhile, Saribel Pages inclusion as a “Gamer” feels forced – and I have to wonder if all three were simply an example of inclusion or they were just friends of the producers.
If you have a free hour or so, and grew up with older Dungeons and Dragons material - Eye of the Beholder is defiantly a good trip down memory lane. If you are new to gaming, or a non-gaming spouse, it can be tedious….but you will have a bonding moment with your significant other over some great artwork. Regardless, if you have PRIME…its free, so nothing ventured…nothing gained.
Since I am of the former – I give it a solid 4 stars.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————- Ed
