Dying the day your own movie comes out? Ed Koch: a man who did things his own way, right up to the very end.

But his starring role is not a new action franchise that’s going to have to recast. Instead, the former New York City mayor, one of the most publicly prolific of the entire 20th century, had been made the central subject of a documentary, Koch, wherein audiences are given a close look at his eleven years in office and all the controversy this entailed. That’s a very rich well to dig into, given not just said controversy, but all that specifically transpired just before, during, and after that period of his career; better yet, reviews are evidence of success on the part of director Neil Barsky.

Today, I wonder how much attention this receives because of his passing, or, more to the point, if Koch gets swept aside among the media hubbub. But, ultimately, when reviews have been good and the trailer is nicely compelling in the span of merely two-and-a-half minutes, all I’m thinking about is when I can even see the thing.

Watch it below:

Synopsis:

Former Mayor Ed Koch is the quintessential New Yorker. Still ferocious, charismatic, and hilariously blunt, the now 88-year-old Koch ruled New York from 1978 to 1989—a down-and-dirty decade of grit, graffiti, near-bankruptcy and rampant crime. First-time filmmaker (and former Wall Street Journal reporter) Neil Barsky has crafted a revealing portrait of this intensely private man, his legacy as a political titan, and the town he helped transform. His three terms included a fiercely competitive 1977 election; the burgeoning AIDS epidemic; landmark housing initiatives; and an irreparable municipal corruption scandal. Through candid interviews and rare archival footage, Koch thrillingly chronicles the personal and political toll of running the world’s most wondrous city.

Koch is now playing.

Does this trailer sell you on the documentary? How does it feel, watching this the day of his passing?