WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.319 Welcome back to another deep dive. We are really 00:00:03.319 --> 00:00:05.480 thrilled to have you with us today because we 00:00:05.480 --> 00:00:09.179 have a genuinely custom tailored exploration 00:00:09.179 --> 00:00:12.099 lined up just for you. Yeah, we really do. Our 00:00:12.099 --> 00:00:15.140 mission today is to dig into the fascinating, 00:00:15.460 --> 00:00:19.300 turbulent and honestly, largely unsung career 00:00:19.300 --> 00:00:23.980 of a true American cinema pioneer, Milton Moses 00:00:23.980 --> 00:00:26.920 Ginsburg. It is a phenomenal trajectory to examine. 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:29.710 I mean. When looking at cinema history, especially 00:00:29.710 --> 00:00:33.170 that totally transformative era of the late 1960s 00:00:33.170 --> 00:00:35.450 and 70s, it's so easy to just focus on the massive 00:00:35.450 --> 00:00:38.170 studio blockbusters or, you know, the household 00:00:38.170 --> 00:00:40.630 name auteurs. But some of the most profound insights 00:00:40.630 --> 00:00:42.750 about the medium and about the psychological 00:00:42.750 --> 00:00:45.770 toll of creating art come from the artists operating 00:00:45.770 --> 00:00:47.649 out on the fringes. The ones pushing the boundaries. 00:00:47.850 --> 00:00:49.789 Exactly. The ones who pushed boundaries, experienced 00:00:49.789 --> 00:00:52.109 devastating lows, and then had to completely 00:00:52.109 --> 00:00:54.210 reinvent their relationship with their craft. 00:00:54.450 --> 00:00:56.770 Which is exactly why this specific timeline caught 00:00:56.770 --> 00:00:59.250 my eye. We're working from a comprehensive Wikipedia 00:00:59.250 --> 00:01:02.030 article detailing Ginsburg's life and filmography. 00:01:02.229 --> 00:01:04.370 But looking at these notes, this is far more 00:01:04.370 --> 00:01:06.769 than just a standard Hollywood biography. Oh, 00:01:06.810 --> 00:01:09.590 absolutely. This is a story about extreme artistic 00:01:09.590 --> 00:01:12.390 vulnerability, the unforgiving realities of the 00:01:12.390 --> 00:01:15.349 film industry, and the enduring power of a quiet, 00:01:15.390 --> 00:01:17.750 behind -the -scenes second act. Okay, let's unpack 00:01:17.750 --> 00:01:20.950 this. It begins in a classic, quintessential 00:01:20.950 --> 00:01:25.090 New York setting. So Milton Moses Ginsburg was 00:01:25.090 --> 00:01:28.890 born on September 22, 1935 in the Bronx. Okay. 00:01:28.950 --> 00:01:31.829 He was born to Jewish parents Elias and Fanny. 00:01:32.350 --> 00:01:35.069 His mother was a housewife and his father worked 00:01:35.069 --> 00:01:37.530 as a garment cutter down in Manhattan's bustling 00:01:37.530 --> 00:01:39.870 garment district. I want to pause on that detail 00:01:39.870 --> 00:01:41.530 for a second because that working class foundation 00:01:41.530 --> 00:01:43.950 feels crucial. You have a father working with 00:01:43.950 --> 00:01:46.510 his hands, physically cutting fabric and shaping 00:01:46.510 --> 00:01:49.049 garments in this incredibly industrious, tactile 00:01:49.049 --> 00:01:51.590 environment. Yeah, very hands on. But looking 00:01:51.590 --> 00:01:53.569 at Ginsburg's academic path, he takes a completely 00:01:53.569 --> 00:01:56.090 different route. He earns a spot at the prestigious 00:01:56.090 --> 00:01:58.810 Bronx High School of Science. Which is an incredibly 00:01:58.810 --> 00:02:01.409 rigorous analytical environment. Right. But then. 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:04.260 He pivots. He doesn't pursue the hard sciences. 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:07.280 He heads to Columbia University and earns a Bachelor 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:10.340 of Arts in Literature. That pivot from the Bronx 00:02:10.340 --> 00:02:12.840 High School of Science to studying literature 00:02:12.840 --> 00:02:15.759 at an Ivy League institution really sets the 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:18.020 stage for the type of storyteller he would become. 00:02:18.199 --> 00:02:21.020 How so? Well, a literature degree from Columbia 00:02:21.020 --> 00:02:23.819 in that specific era means he was spending his 00:02:23.819 --> 00:02:27.000 formative years deconstructing text. He was being 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:30.000 trained to analyze character motivations, structural 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:33.319 forms, and the human condition through a highly 00:02:33.319 --> 00:02:36.039 critical lens. He was taking things apart. Exactly. 00:02:36.039 --> 00:02:38.120 He was equipping himself with the intellect. 00:02:40.280 --> 00:02:43.520 Which is incredibly fitting, because taking things 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:45.620 apart seems to be exactly what he wanted to do 00:02:45.620 --> 00:02:49.780 with film. In 1969, Ginsberg directed his very 00:02:49.780 --> 00:02:52.879 first feature, titled Coming Apart, and here's 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:54.939 where it gets really interesting. Oh, the production 00:02:54.939 --> 00:02:57.930 constraints. Yes. The physical constraints he 00:02:57.930 --> 00:03:00.530 placed on this movie were absolutely mind -boggling 00:03:00.530 --> 00:03:03.490 for a feature film. They defy almost every convention 00:03:03.490 --> 00:03:06.069 of standard filmmaking. Normally, a feature film 00:03:06.069 --> 00:03:08.650 relies on diverse locations, establishing shots, 00:03:08.889 --> 00:03:11.250 and a crew moving dynamically through a constructed 00:03:11.250 --> 00:03:14.210 world. Ginsberg completely rejected all of that. 00:03:14.449 --> 00:03:17.370 Looking at these production realities, he shot 00:03:17.370 --> 00:03:20.069 this entire feature on a micro -budget of just 00:03:20.069 --> 00:03:23.710 $60 ,000. Barely anything. And the entire shoot 00:03:23.710 --> 00:03:27.500 was scheduled for just three weeks. But the detail 00:03:27.500 --> 00:03:30.060 that really stops me in my tracks is the location. 00:03:30.259 --> 00:03:33.879 Right. The entire movie was filmed inside a single 00:03:33.879 --> 00:03:37.879 one -room apartment in Kips Bay Plaza. We are 00:03:37.879 --> 00:03:40.000 talking about a physical space that was exactly 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:43.590 15 by 17 feet. It is almost impossible to imagine 00:03:43.590 --> 00:03:45.569 the claustrophobia of that set. I mean, just 00:03:45.569 --> 00:03:48.629 the heat from the lights. Exactly. To fit 1960s 00:03:48.629 --> 00:03:51.150 era film cameras, lighting rigs, sound equipment, 00:03:51.370 --> 00:03:54.370 the director and the actors into a 15 by 17 foot 00:03:54.370 --> 00:03:58.250 box is an immense logistical nightmare. But that 00:03:58.250 --> 00:04:00.370 physical constraint wasn't just a budget limitation. 00:04:00.770 --> 00:04:02.949 It was his choice. It was entirely by design. 00:04:03.090 --> 00:04:05.689 It perfectly mirrored the psychological constraints 00:04:05.689 --> 00:04:07.509 of the narrative he was trying to capture. Well, 00:04:07.550 --> 00:04:09.370 let's talk about that narrative. The plot is 00:04:09.370 --> 00:04:11.669 just as provocative as the tiny room it was filmed 00:04:11.669 --> 00:04:14.610 in. Rip Torn Stars is a mentally disturbed psychologist 00:04:14.610 --> 00:04:17.449 who is secretly filming his sexual encounters 00:04:17.449 --> 00:04:20.350 with various women. A very heavy premise. Very 00:04:20.350 --> 00:04:23.569 heavy. And just as a quick aside from our timeline, 00:04:23.790 --> 00:04:26.959 it features Sally Kirkland. who is actually simultaneously 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:30.259 filming another movie called Futz. at the exact 00:04:30.259 --> 00:04:33.459 same time wow the logistics of an indie actor 00:04:33.459 --> 00:04:36.500 bouncing between two intense experimental projects 00:04:36.500 --> 00:04:39.240 like that in the late 60s must have been exhausting 00:04:39.240 --> 00:04:41.920 absolutely demanding but the true innovation 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:44.360 of coming apart wasn't just the provocative subject 00:04:44.360 --> 00:04:48.180 matter it was the cinematic form itself ginsberg 00:04:48.180 --> 00:04:51.480 filmed the entire movie using just one static 00:04:51.480 --> 00:04:54.019 camera setup just one just one his intention 00:04:54.019 --> 00:04:56.660 was to simulate a completely non -constructed 00:04:56.660 --> 00:04:59.759 fake documentary aesthetic wait Shooting a feature 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:03.279 film on a single static camera in 1969, film 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:05.959 reels were heavy, expensive, and limited in how 00:05:05.959 --> 00:05:07.959 long they could roll back then. How did he physically 00:05:07.959 --> 00:05:10.339 manage to keep the narrative moving without relying 00:05:10.339 --> 00:05:12.560 on traditional editing cuts to save the pacing? 00:05:12.819 --> 00:05:15.199 That is exactly why it is such a high wire act. 00:05:15.319 --> 00:05:17.399 When you use a static camera, you strip away 00:05:17.399 --> 00:05:19.560 the director's ability to manipulate time and 00:05:19.560 --> 00:05:21.519 space through traditional editing. You can't 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:23.810 hide anything. You can't. The actors have to 00:05:23.810 --> 00:05:25.670 carry the entire weight of the scene in real 00:05:25.670 --> 00:05:28.490 time. If someone drops a line or the pacing lags, 00:05:28.490 --> 00:05:31.230 you can't just cut to a reaction shot. It is 00:05:31.230 --> 00:05:34.029 raw, unbroken observation. That's terrifying 00:05:34.029 --> 00:05:36.509 for an actor. It is. He was heavily influenced 00:05:36.509 --> 00:05:38.970 by Jim McBride's film David Holtzman's Diary, 00:05:39.029 --> 00:05:42.110 which played with similar concepts. What's fascinating 00:05:42.110 --> 00:05:45.649 here is how Ginsberg was pioneering a voyeuristic 00:05:45.649 --> 00:05:48.730 found footage aesthetic decades before it became 00:05:48.730 --> 00:05:51.329 a mainstream genre staple. That is a great point. 00:05:51.490 --> 00:05:53.889 If you think about the massive horror and thriller 00:05:53.889 --> 00:05:56.810 franchises of the late 90s and 2000s that relied 00:05:56.810 --> 00:05:58.930 entirely on the premise of a discovered tape. 00:05:59.500 --> 00:06:02.740 Ginsberg was doing this in 1969. He was intentionally 00:06:02.740 --> 00:06:05.639 forcing the audience into the incredibly uncomfortable 00:06:05.639 --> 00:06:08.560 position of being a complicit voyeur. He locked 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:10.540 the audience in that tiny room right along with 00:06:10.540 --> 00:06:13.180 Riptorn. But pushing the boundaries that hard 00:06:13.180 --> 00:06:15.519 usually comes with a cost. Looking at the critical 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:17.779 reception, it gave everyone whiplash. It was 00:06:17.779 --> 00:06:20.060 totally divided. Which is often the hallmark 00:06:20.060 --> 00:06:23.079 of something truly avant -garde. It polarized 00:06:23.079 --> 00:06:26.430 the critical establishment. On one hand... You 00:06:26.430 --> 00:06:28.589 had Richard Schickel reviewing for Life magazine, 00:06:28.769 --> 00:06:31.230 who strongly championed the film. He loved it. 00:06:31.329 --> 00:06:34.149 He really did. Schickel specifically praised 00:06:34.149 --> 00:06:37.269 Rip Torn's performance. He highlighted Ginsburg's 00:06:37.269 --> 00:06:39.610 highly inventive use of camera and sound within 00:06:39.610 --> 00:06:42.370 those extreme limitations, and he called it an 00:06:42.370 --> 00:06:45.209 illuminating portrayal of a schizophrenic breakdown. 00:06:45.980 --> 00:06:48.079 But then you look across the aisle and the legendary 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:50.339 film critic Andrew Sarris gave it a much less 00:06:50.339 --> 00:06:53.459 favorable review. And ultimately, despite the 00:06:53.459 --> 00:06:56.180 buzz when it hit theaters, coming apart was a 00:06:56.180 --> 00:06:58.920 commercial failure. Yeah. I suppose the general 00:06:58.920 --> 00:07:01.100 public just wasn't ready to buy tickets to watch 00:07:01.100 --> 00:07:03.300 a psychologist unravel in front of a hidden camera 00:07:03.300 --> 00:07:06.500 for two hours. Commercially, it absolutely failed 00:07:06.500 --> 00:07:09.019 to find an audience. But culturally, it planted 00:07:09.019 --> 00:07:12.420 a significant seed. Over time, Coming Apart attained 00:07:12.420 --> 00:07:15.379 a very dedicated cult following among film critics 00:07:15.379 --> 00:07:17.540 and fellow filmmakers. The industry insiders. 00:07:17.720 --> 00:07:19.920 Yes. The people who understood the mechanics 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:22.759 of the medium recognized the sheer audacity of 00:07:22.759 --> 00:07:25.040 what Ginsburg had achieved with a single camera 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:27.620 in a single room. And it seems Ginsburg... himself 00:07:27.620 --> 00:07:30.879 knew exactly how much of his own psyche he had 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:33.500 poured into that space. There is an incredibly 00:07:33.500 --> 00:07:37.600 profound quote from a 1999 volume of Film Comet 00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:40.519 magazine where he looks back on the movie and 00:07:40.519 --> 00:07:43.000 he doesn't hold back at all. It is one of the 00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:45.220 most breathtakingly honest confessions I have 00:07:45.220 --> 00:07:47.920 ever read from a filmmaker. In the piece, he 00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:49.819 stated that the film was about a psychiatrist 00:07:49.819 --> 00:07:52.600 encased in his own reflection using a hidden 00:07:52.600 --> 00:07:55.040 camera to record his own disintegration. Wow. 00:07:55.279 --> 00:07:57.279 He went on to explain that it was about the pleasures 00:07:57.279 --> 00:07:59.519 and price of promiscuity and about the form and 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:02.560 duration of cinema itself. But the crushing admission 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:05.180 comes right at the very end. Let's hear it. He 00:08:05.180 --> 00:08:07.680 said, and to a degree that still embarrasses, 00:08:07.800 --> 00:08:10.540 it was about me. appropriate the title coming 00:08:10.540 --> 00:08:12.939 apart to a degree that still embarrasses it was 00:08:12.939 --> 00:08:15.870 about me You can actually feel the weight of 00:08:15.870 --> 00:08:18.370 that vulnerability. To put your own psychological 00:08:18.370 --> 00:08:21.029 unraveling on a screen, to call it coming apart 00:08:21.029 --> 00:08:23.290 and then watch it fail commercially, that is 00:08:23.290 --> 00:08:26.410 a staggering level of exposure. It is incredibly 00:08:26.410 --> 00:08:29.149 rare for an artist to be that unvarnished in 00:08:29.149 --> 00:08:32.009 retrospect. What stands out to you when considering 00:08:32.009 --> 00:08:34.529 a creator willing to lay their deepest anxieties 00:08:34.529 --> 00:08:37.509 so bare on a movie screen only for the commercial 00:08:37.509 --> 00:08:39.950 audience of its time to reject it? It's a huge 00:08:39.950 --> 00:08:42.830 gamble. The psychological toll of that kind of 00:08:42.830 --> 00:08:45.070 public rejection, especially when the work is 00:08:45.070 --> 00:08:47.909 that personal, is immense. It has to be devastating. 00:08:48.149 --> 00:08:51.029 You basically bleed onto the film reel and the 00:08:51.029 --> 00:08:52.570 box office tells you they aren't interested. 00:08:53.070 --> 00:08:56.009 But looking at the timeline, Ginsburg doesn't 00:08:56.009 --> 00:08:59.230 just give up. He attempts a major pivot. He does. 00:08:59.409 --> 00:09:02.720 In 1973. He writes and directs his second feature, 00:09:02.840 --> 00:09:06.039 which is a satirical horror film called The Werewolf 00:09:06.039 --> 00:09:08.700 of Washington, starring Dean Stockwell. This 00:09:08.700 --> 00:09:11.500 represents a massive, deliberate, stylistic shift 00:09:11.500 --> 00:09:14.759 for Ginsburg. With this film, he completely eschewed 00:09:14.759 --> 00:09:17.440 the one -room minimalism, the single static camera, 00:09:17.620 --> 00:09:20.460 and the hyper -personal, fake documentary aesthetic 00:09:20.460 --> 00:09:22.799 of his debut. It's like night and day. Exactly. 00:09:23.100 --> 00:09:25.200 The Werewolf of Washington demonstrates a much 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:27.919 more technically complex film style. But why 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:30.879 make that specific leap? Going from an avant 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:34.419 -garde 15 -foot room to a satirical horror film 00:09:34.419 --> 00:09:37.000 seems like whiplash for the creator, too. Was 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:38.679 he just trying to prove he could play the Hollywood 00:09:38.679 --> 00:09:41.389 game? That is highly likely. When you are labeled 00:09:41.389 --> 00:09:44.169 as an avant -garde experimental filmmaker, the 00:09:44.169 --> 00:09:46.110 industry often assumes you simply don't know 00:09:46.110 --> 00:09:48.250 how to handle the mechanics of a broader traditional 00:09:48.250 --> 00:09:51.029 production. They pigeonhole you. They absolutely 00:09:51.029 --> 00:09:54.110 do. By tackling a genre piece with standard coverage, 00:09:54.309 --> 00:09:57.090 multiple locations, and special effects, he was 00:09:57.090 --> 00:09:59.070 proving he possessed the technical competence 00:09:59.070 --> 00:10:01.850 to direct more conventional narrative. He was 00:10:01.850 --> 00:10:04.309 expanding his toolkit. But right as he is expanding 00:10:04.309 --> 00:10:08.029 that toolkit, we hit 1975. And this is the turning 00:10:08.029 --> 00:10:10.789 point in the timeline that is... Just tragic. 00:10:11.110 --> 00:10:14.009 Ginsberg is diagnosed with non -Hodgkin's lymphoma. 00:10:14.129 --> 00:10:16.870 A devastating diagnosis for anyone. But to have 00:10:16.870 --> 00:10:19.370 a life -threatening illness strike just as you 00:10:19.370 --> 00:10:21.490 are actively fighting to establish your commercial 00:10:21.490 --> 00:10:24.389 voice in a notoriously fickle industry is particularly 00:10:24.389 --> 00:10:27.129 cruel. Terrible timing. It is documented that 00:10:27.129 --> 00:10:29.330 this physical illness led to a period of severe 00:10:29.330 --> 00:10:31.850 depression. And as a result, Ginsberg completely 00:10:31.850 --> 00:10:34.590 withdrew from filmmaking. He stepped away entirely. 00:10:35.789 --> 00:10:38.269 Looking at the momentum required to sustain a 00:10:38.269 --> 00:10:40.950 Hollywood directing career, a sudden halt like 00:10:40.950 --> 00:10:43.870 that usually erases you from the board. If we 00:10:43.870 --> 00:10:46.129 connect this to the bigger picture, it illustrates 00:10:46.129 --> 00:10:48.429 a heartbreaking reality of the creative arts. 00:10:48.690 --> 00:10:52.029 A devastating physical illness compounded by 00:10:52.029 --> 00:10:54.309 the brutal commercial realities of the film industry 00:10:54.309 --> 00:10:57.730 can silence a uniquely creative voice almost 00:10:57.730 --> 00:11:00.240 overnight. The industry just moves on. The industry 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:02.639 does not wait for you to recover. When your body 00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:04.840 and mind are forced into a desperate battle for 00:11:04.840 --> 00:11:07.779 mere survival, the art and the career often has 00:11:07.779 --> 00:11:10.080 to be left behind. For so many people in the 00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:13.440 film industry, that diagnosis in 1975 would be 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:15.980 the end of the timeline. The promising, boundary 00:11:15.980 --> 00:11:18.899 -pushing director gets sick, steps away, and 00:11:18.899 --> 00:11:21.259 slowly fades into obscurity. So what does this 00:11:21.259 --> 00:11:23.879 all mean? Did the cinematic world just lose Melton 00:11:23.879 --> 00:11:26.730 Moses Ginsburg entirely? Far from it. This is 00:11:26.730 --> 00:11:28.750 where the story shifts from a tragedy of lost 00:11:28.750 --> 00:11:32.169 potential into something deeply inspiring. Finding 00:11:32.169 --> 00:11:34.049 out what he did next completely surprised me. 00:11:34.070 --> 00:11:35.990 You'd think the story ends with his withdrawal, 00:11:36.309 --> 00:11:38.730 but he didn't actually leave cinema at all. He 00:11:38.730 --> 00:11:40.789 just stepped out of the spotlight. He found a 00:11:40.789 --> 00:11:43.629 new role. He transitioned from being the director, 00:11:43.769 --> 00:11:45.269 the person carrying the entire weight of the 00:11:45.269 --> 00:11:48.250 production, to becoming a master film editor. 00:11:48.730 --> 00:11:51.649 He built this phenomenal, almost hidden second 00:11:51.649 --> 00:11:54.009 act in the editing room. And it is second act 00:11:54.009 --> 00:11:56.610 defined by the absolute highest levels of industry 00:11:56.610 --> 00:11:59.769 recognition. As an editor, Ginsburg didn't just 00:11:59.769 --> 00:12:02.350 work on obscure projects. He edited documentaries 00:12:02.350 --> 00:12:05.389 that won Academy Awards. Which is huge. He was 00:12:05.389 --> 00:12:07.529 the editor for the Oscar -winning Down and Out 00:12:07.529 --> 00:12:10.830 in America in 1986 and later the Oscar -winning 00:12:10.830 --> 00:12:14.330 short documentary The Personals in 1998. Two 00:12:14.330 --> 00:12:16.529 Academy Awards attached to his editing work. 00:12:16.669 --> 00:12:19.509 And it wasn't just those two highlights. He built 00:12:19.509 --> 00:12:22.409 an incredibly prolific, diverse resume that spanned 00:12:22.409 --> 00:12:24.690 decades. Let's hear some of them. Just running 00:12:24.690 --> 00:12:26.350 through some of these credits to show the sheer 00:12:26.350 --> 00:12:29.370 range of his work. He edited Listen Up! The Lives 00:12:29.370 --> 00:12:31.970 of Quincy Jones in 1990. He worked on a film 00:12:31.970 --> 00:12:35.309 called Catwalk in 1995. The movie Pronto in 1997. 00:12:36.110 --> 00:12:38.200 Sidney Poitier. One bright light in the year 00:12:38.200 --> 00:12:40.820 2000. He even edited a miniseries about Fidel 00:12:40.820 --> 00:12:43.440 Castro directed by David Atwood in 2002. The 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:46.379 diversity of those subjects is staggering. You 00:12:46.379 --> 00:12:48.919 are jumping from the musical genius of Quincy 00:12:48.919 --> 00:12:51.740 Jones to the legacy of Sidney Poitier to the 00:12:51.740 --> 00:12:54.759 geopolitical history of Fidel Castro. But beyond 00:12:54.759 --> 00:12:57.980 the impressive resume, there is a deep, almost 00:12:57.980 --> 00:13:00.799 poetic resonance to this specific career shift. 00:13:01.080 --> 00:13:03.379 How so? Think back to his academic foundation. 00:13:04.220 --> 00:13:06.980 That literature degree at Columbia where he learned 00:13:06.980 --> 00:13:10.080 how to deconstruct narrative. Then think of his 00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:13.340 directorial debut, Coming Apart, where a director 00:13:13.340 --> 00:13:16.000 literally suffered a psychological unraveling 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:17.860 while trying to capture his own reflection on 00:13:17.860 --> 00:13:20.139 screen. Right. After surviving a life -threatening 00:13:20.139 --> 00:13:21.940 illness and severe depression, he steps into 00:13:21.940 --> 00:13:23.879 the editing bay. Right, where the entire job 00:13:23.879 --> 00:13:26.679 is about finding order. Exactly. What does a 00:13:26.679 --> 00:13:29.820 master film editor actually do? An editor takes 00:13:29.820 --> 00:13:32.659 chaotic fragments of reality, hours and hours 00:13:32.659 --> 00:13:35.460 of disjointed, messy, overwhelming footage, and 00:13:35.460 --> 00:13:37.720 patiently, meticulously assembles them into a 00:13:37.720 --> 00:13:39.919 coherent... meaningful structure. They make sense 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:43.460 of the chaos. Yes. Ginsburg found his greatest, 00:13:43.659 --> 00:13:48.100 most decorated industry success not in unraveling 00:13:48.100 --> 00:13:50.600 his own psyche for the camera, but in the quiet, 00:13:50.600 --> 00:13:53.080 supportive act of structuring and piecing together 00:13:53.080 --> 00:13:55.840 the complex stories of others. There is something 00:13:55.840 --> 00:13:58.519 incredibly beautiful about that. He went from 00:13:58.519 --> 00:14:00.799 a project that was all about tearing a mine down 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:03.679 to a career built entirely on putting pieces 00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:06.100 together. It's a profound shift. And clearly. 00:14:06.539 --> 00:14:08.700 All that time spent mastering the rhythm of other 00:14:08.700 --> 00:14:11.840 people's stories reignited something in him because 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:14.360 the director in him wasn't permanently silenced. 00:14:14.440 --> 00:14:16.659 He actually made a late return to the director's 00:14:16.659 --> 00:14:19.620 chair. He did. Decades after his initial withdrawal 00:14:19.620 --> 00:14:23.000 in 1975, Ginsburg returned to direct two short 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:26.470 films, The City Below the Line in 1999. and The 00:14:26.470 --> 00:14:28.990 Haloed Bird in 2001. That's amazing. It serves 00:14:28.990 --> 00:14:31.370 as a triumphant final note on his creative journey. 00:14:31.450 --> 00:14:34.090 It proves that the innate desire to conceptualize 00:14:34.090 --> 00:14:36.330 and direct his own visions never fully left him. 00:14:36.450 --> 00:14:38.429 It simply waited for him to be ready to speak 00:14:38.429 --> 00:14:41.009 again. And it is important to note that throughout 00:14:41.009 --> 00:14:44.289 this incredible, challenging second act, he had 00:14:44.289 --> 00:14:47.870 a strong personal anchor. In 1983, he married 00:14:47.870 --> 00:14:50.769 a painter named Nina Posnansky. And the records 00:14:50.769 --> 00:14:53.269 note that this was a lasting union. They remained 00:14:53.269 --> 00:14:55.460 married for the rest of his life. Having that 00:14:55.460 --> 00:14:57.659 kind of stability and specifically sharing a 00:14:57.659 --> 00:14:59.639 life with a fellow artist who understands the 00:14:59.639 --> 00:15:02.460 creative temperament likely provided a vital 00:15:02.460 --> 00:15:04.519 grounding force for him. They spoke the same 00:15:04.519 --> 00:15:07.259 language. Exactly. It gave him a foundation as 00:15:07.259 --> 00:15:10.120 he navigated the highly demanding, deadline -driven 00:15:10.120 --> 00:15:13.240 world of documentary editing and eventually navigated 00:15:13.240 --> 00:15:16.139 his way back to directing his own shorts. Ultimately, 00:15:16.360 --> 00:15:18.980 Milton Moses Ginsburg passed away on May 23, 00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:22.830 2021. He was 85 years old, passing in his Manhattan 00:15:22.830 --> 00:15:25.350 apartment after a final battle with cancer. He 00:15:25.350 --> 00:15:28.210 lived a remarkably full, complex, and deeply 00:15:28.210 --> 00:15:31.710 creative 85 years. To wrap up our deep dive today, 00:15:31.809 --> 00:15:33.570 I just want to pause and look at the sheer scope 00:15:33.570 --> 00:15:36.129 of this incredible arc we've traced. We started 00:15:36.129 --> 00:15:38.110 in the working class neighborhoods of the Bronx 00:15:38.110 --> 00:15:40.830 with the son of a garment cutter. We followed 00:15:40.830 --> 00:15:43.049 his intellectual pivot to an Ivy League education 00:15:43.049 --> 00:15:46.460 at Columbia. From making clothes to deconstructing 00:15:46.460 --> 00:15:50.059 literature. Exactly. We saw him pioneer an incredibly 00:15:50.059 --> 00:15:52.779 controversial found footage cinematic style, 00:15:53.019 --> 00:15:56.340 locked inside a tiny 15 -foot room, laying his 00:15:56.340 --> 00:15:59.539 own psyche bare. We watched him survive a devastating 00:15:59.539 --> 00:16:02.320 cancer diagnosis, battle through severe depression, 00:16:02.500 --> 00:16:05.039 and completely reshape his career to help win 00:16:05.039 --> 00:16:07.559 Oscars from the quiet shadows of the documentary 00:16:07.559 --> 00:16:10.259 editing room. This raises an important question, 00:16:10.379 --> 00:16:13.700 one that reaches far beyond Milton Moses Ginsberg's 00:16:13.700 --> 00:16:16.440 filmography and touches on how we view our own 00:16:16.440 --> 00:16:20.149 lives. I'm all ears. If a raw, hyper -personal 00:16:20.149 --> 00:16:22.789 piece of art like Coming Apart is rejected by 00:16:22.789 --> 00:16:25.409 the masses in its day but revered by filmmakers 00:16:25.409 --> 00:16:28.389 decades later, who actually determines the true 00:16:28.389 --> 00:16:30.649 value of art? That's a great point. Is it the 00:16:30.649 --> 00:16:32.629 immediate audience who buys the tickets, the 00:16:32.629 --> 00:16:35.830 critics who dissect it, or simply the slow, unforgiving 00:16:35.830 --> 00:16:38.129 passage of time? That is a phenomenal thought 00:16:38.129 --> 00:16:40.350 to leave you with today. Maybe the value isn't 00:16:40.350 --> 00:16:42.919 decided in the moment at all. Thank you for joining 00:16:42.919 --> 00:16:45.120 us as we impact the extraordinary resilient life 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:47.720 of Milton Moses Ginsburg. Keep exploring, keep 00:16:47.720 --> 00:16:50.100 questioning, and we will see you on the next 00:16:50.100 --> 00:16:50.539 deep dive.