Mr. Hoover and I, 1989, 90 min.
De Antonio’s final film, Mr. Hoover and I, is a combination personal essay and documentary exposé of J. Edgar Hoover. Without collage or biting juxtaposition, the filmmaker takes us through his own 10,000-page FBI file, rounding out the picture with a variety of supplemental footage: a conversation with John Cage about art, a college speaking engagement on Joseph McCarthy and the Iran-Contra hearings, and a haircut by his wife Nancy. “Mr. Hoover and I is made of poor means,” de Antonio wrote, “but it is ambitious – more ambitious than Batman.”