Milton Moses Ginsberg

Milton Moses Ginsberg (September 22, 1935 – May 23, 2021) was an American film director and editor. He was noted for writing and directing Coming Apart, a 1969 film starring Rip Torn and Sally Kirkland, and The Werewolf of Washington starring Dean Stockwell.

Milton Moses Ginsberg
Born(1935-09-22)September 22, 1935
The Bronx, New York, U.S.
DiedMay 23, 2021(2021-05-23) (aged 85)
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
EducationColumbia University (BA)
Occupation(s)Director, Writer, Editor,
SpouseNina Posnansky

Early life

Ginsberg was born in The Bronx on September 22, 1935. His father, Elias, was employed as a cutter in the garment district; his mother, Fannie (Weis), was a housewife. He attended the Bronx High School of Science, before studying literature at Columbia University, where he obtained a bachelor's degree.[1]

Career

Coming Apart

Ginsberg directed his first feature film, Coming Apart, in 1969. It starred Rip Torn as a mentally disturbed psychologist who secretly films his sexual encounters with women. Sally Kirkland, who was simultaneously filming Futz! at the time, also stars.[2] The film was shot in a one-room, 15 ft × 17 ft (4.6 m × 5.2 m) apartment in Kips Bay Plaza, on a budget of $60,000. Shooting lasted three weeks.[3] Ginsberg filmed the entire movie with one static camera setup, in a manner simulating a non-constructed "fake documentary" style, influenced by Jim McBride's David Holzman's Diary.[4]: 86 

Critical reception was mixed. Life reviewer Richard Schickel praised Torn's performance, Ginsberg's inventive use of camera and sound, and the "illuminating" portrayal of a schizophrenic breakdown.[5] Critic Andrew Sarris gave it a less-favorable review, and the film was a commercial failure.[3] The film later attained a cult following among critics and filmmakers.[3]

In a 1999 volume of Film Comment, Ginsberg stated:

... the film was about a psychiatrist encased in his own reflection, using a hidden camera to record his own disintegration. The film was also about the pleasures and price of promiscuity, and about the form and duration of cinema itself - or so I hoped. And to a degree that still embarrasses, it was about me. Appropriate, the title, Coming Apart.[6]: 4 

Subsequent work

In 1973, Ginsberg wrote and directed the satirical horror film The Werewolf of Washington starring Dean Stockwell.[7] Eschewing the minimalism of his previous feature, Ginsberg demonstrated a more technically complex film style.[8][9]

After a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 1975, Ginsberg became depressed and withdrew from filmmaking.[1] He returned to directing in 1999 and 2001, with the short films The City Below the Line and The Haloed Bird.[3][6]: 6 

After his final feature film, Ginsberg primarily made a living as a film editor,[3] working on two Academy Award-winning documentaries, Down and Out in America and The Personals, among others.[1] He edited both parts of the miniseries Fidel (2002) for director David Attwood.[10][11]

Personal life

Ginsberg married Nina Posnansky, a painter, in 1983. They remained married until his death.[1]

Ginsberg died on May 23, 2021, at his apartment in Manhattan. He was 85, and suffered from cancer prior to his death.[1]

Filmography
Year Title Notes Ref.
1969 Coming Apart Director [11]
1973 The Werewolf of Washington Writer and director [11]
1986 Down and Out in America Editor [1]
1990 Listen Up: The Lives Of Quincy Jones Editor [11][12]
1995 Catwalk Editor [11]
1997 Pronto Editor [11]
1998 The Personals: Improvisations on Romance in the Golden Years Editor [11]
2000 Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light Editor [11]
2002 Fidel Editor [11]
2005 A Father... A Son... Once upon a Time in Hollywood Editor [11]

References
  1. Sandomir, Richard (June 12, 2021). "Milton Moses Ginsberg, Unconventional Filmmaker, Dies at 85". The New York Times. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  2. Smith, Howard (March 13, 1969). "Rip Torn, Sally Kirkland, and the Sexual Revolution on Stage and Film". The Village Voice.
  3. Smith, Dinitia (September 10, 1998). "After 'Coming Apart,' a Life Did Just That". The New York Times. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  4. Horwath, Alexander (2004). "A Walking Contradiction (Partly True and Partly Fiction)". In Elsaesser, Thomas; King, Noel; Horwath, Alexander (eds.). The Last Great American Picture Show: New Hollywood Cinema in the 1970s. Amsterdam University Press. ISBN 90-5356-493-4.
  5. Schickel, Richard. "Cracking Up On Camera" Life, October 17, 1969
  6. Ginsberg, Milton Moses (1999). "How to Fall Into Oblivion and Take Your Movie With You: COMING APART". Film Comment. 35 (1): 4–6. ISSN 0015-119X. JSTOR 43454642.
  7. Malcolm, Derek (October 23, 1976). "Yawning space: Derek Malcolm reviews more new films". The Guardian. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  8. Puchalski, Steven (2002). Slimetime: A Guide to Sleazy, Mindless Movies. Headpress/Critical Vision. ISBN 1-900486-21-0.
  9. Senn, Bryan (February 6, 2017). The Werewolf Filmography: 300+ Movies. McFarland. p. 238. ISBN 9781476626918.
  10. Wertheimer, Ron (January 26, 2002). "Television Review – Castro's Road, a Historical Pageant". The New York Times. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  11. "Milton Moses Ginsberg". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on June 12, 2021. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  12. Ebert, Roger (October 5, 1990). "Listen Up: The Lives Of Quincy Jones movie review (1990)". www.rogerebert.com. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
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