Sasha Waters On Mary Oliver Documentary, Doc Talk
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- Sasha Waters directed "Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World," chronicling the poet's arc from a childhood marked by abuse to her life in Provincetown, MA, with partner Molly Malone Cook.
- Kino Lorber is distributing the documentary, which opened theatrically in New York, is now playing in Los Angeles, and will expand to additional cities.
- Waters recruited Stephen Colbert, Helena Bonham Carter, Steve Buscemi and others to read Oliver's poems for the film; Colbert becomes emotional reciting lines from "The Summer Day."
- Filmmaker John Waters (no relation) features prominently in the documentary, providing contrast to Oliver's nature-loving outlook — he viewed nature as full of creatures out to kill him.
- The film draws its subtitle from Oliver's own words about being "saved by the beauty of the world," a phrase Waters explains during the episode.
Why it matters: Mary Oliver's transformation from well-respected but modestly selling poet to celebrity figure endorsed by Oprah and Stephen Colbert is a publishing-era anomaly, and this film gives Waters the chance to solve the perennial documentary challenge of portraying a solitary writer by letting her read her own work and reframing her life through both admirers and unlikely foils.
