Change Your Image
sam_adler
Reviews
Bill Cunningham New York (2010)
More Grey Gardens than Grey Lady--or Shoulda Been
I rated this movie highly because i enjoyed its portrayal of a man passionate about his work, principled in his approach to it, plainspoken, etc. But i think the director missed should've delved more deeply into what was fueling his workaholism and critics miss the boat when they explain away his lack of personal life as a result of an all-consuming passion for fashion or Calvinist work ethic. I'm sure those are both true, but they're hardly the whole truth. As a result, even though I initially felt about the movie much the same as the other commenters here, the more i think about it, the more I see a regrettable failure to explore how rejection by family and church due to homosexuality can warp an individual, create such self-hatred that he keeps the world at a distance by filling all his waking hours with work, and spending his working hours hiding behind a lens. One character trait that is evident is need for absolute control over selection of pics, layout, etc., even to the point of working for no money. This could either be because he completely lacked the social skills to compromise or because he just needed to assert control over the little slice of life's possibilities that he had allowed himself. Fortunately for Bill, the work he threw himself into to the exclusion of everything else life has to offer happened to be something he was both passionate about and had an aptitude for, so we can all enjoy the fruits of his pathology. And I'm sure that's the kind of film the NY Times wanted and probably the only way Bill would agree to be filmed for this project (it was years getting him to sign on). Anyway, movie is completely enjoyable, but, like I said, treating as lovable quirks the fact that this man has lived a life sleeping on a twin platform bed surrounded by file cabinets, his wardrobe pretty much the clothes on his back, no real friends to speak of, etc., seems to be a major flaw of this otherwise interesting film.
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2008)
absorbing, but not as hard-hitting as if h.t. had made it
Except for some criticism of Thompson by his first wife and a jovial Pat Buchanan, I think the film went too easy on Hunter, e.g, pretty much laughed off the dirty trick he played on Muskie. I also disagree with the observation by some people in the movie (and at least one commenter here)about how tragic he took his own life because we need him now more than ever. The blogosphere had already made Thompson pretty irrelevant. There are thousands of pundits (drug-using and otherwise)covering the political scene in a gonzo way to counter the pack journalism Tim Crouse inveighed against in The Boys on the Bus, which may explain Thompson's waning popularity in the years leading up to his death. Another interesting thing about the film was the contrast between the real Thompson, as shown in copious footage and Johnny Depp's portrayal of him, as shown in clips from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The juxtaposition revealed Depp to be wide of the mark in capturing Thompson's essence, which was far more "sober" than what would gather from Depp's cartoonish characterization of him. Such over-the-top performances appear to be Depp's stock in trade, a convenient cover, IMHO, for his limited acting ability. I'd like to see him pull off a performance closer to reality, but I'm not holding my breath. (Even the gratuitous use of Depp to read passages from Hunters' books revealed him to be the most affected person in this movie.) Anyway, I came away from this film with both more and less respect for Thompson, so maybe there was more balance there than I'm giving credit for. And as a time-travel piece back to the days of the culture wars, it's very effective.