As a rule, documentaries have an extremely short shelf life in theaters. This is one doc not to be miss!!! Winner of numerous worldwide awards (including Audience Awards), this was my #1 favorite at last year's SILVERDOCS. This was my expanded **** review as posted in Film Festival Today:
“Bill Cunningham-New York” (**** 90 minutes)
An extraordinary profile of a man without ego and who absolutely abhors attention. In his opening remarks, director Richard Press stated that it took 10 years to make the film: eight years to convince Bill to be filmed and two years to shoot and edit. This account of the author of New York Times’ aptly named columns, “On the Street” & “Evening Hours”, is a gem. Winner of The Audience Award at this year’s Sydney Film Festival and the Best Documentary at The Nantucket Film Festival, this film is a surefire crowd-pleaser, as it chronicles the 81-year-old as he travels around Manhattan on his bicycle constantly clicking his old school 16mm camera at the latest fashions that he encounters. The filmmakers gained unusual access to Bill’s world, including his meager apartment above Carnegie Hall where the space is occupied mostly by his files & a single bed in the corner of the room (the bathroom was down the hall). But mostly we see him in action on the streets as he is interested, not in photographing celebrity, but the clothes they, as well as the common folk, wear. One segment perfectly describes the man: In Paris to accept the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters for his contribution to the arts, Bill is more interested in snapping away at the arrivals outside the event. When it is time for him to enter the building, he is at first refused entry when the guards do not recognize him. One does not have to be interested in fashion to thoroughly enjoy this brilliant account of a most adorable gentleman whose astonishing work ethic & beautiful moral core are second to none.
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