tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post8119247993275993250..comments2024-03-28T02:30:08.913-04:00Comments on Not Just Movies: American: The Bill Hicks Story (Matt Harlock & Paul Thomas, 2011)Jakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-45211351460554920562011-10-07T14:13:45.317-04:002011-10-07T14:13:45.317-04:00If I understand your argument correctly, I suspect...If I understand your argument correctly, I suspect I fit the gap between hero worship and indifference you point out here. I didn't know all of the stage-footage off by heart when I saw this film. In fact, for me American served as a kind of primer on the man.<br /><br />Which meant that collecting the choicest cuts from his sets, plus the recollections from family and friends, definitely served a purpose. I would agree that the film offers an incomplete biography -- details dry up as soon as we move away from Texas. But that's a consequence of a specific decision the filmmakers made: to tell the story of Hicks's life through others, rather than use an 'objective' narrative voice. What that means is that the viewer gets a very different account of Bill Hicks to the one other (I assume) discussions / documentaries would provide. What's revealing is just how ordinary, hard-working, family orientated and American Hicks was -- an facet of his character quite difficult to reconstruct from his stand-up persona.<br /><br />What I missed from this (being a Hicks newbie) was exactly the broader context that only professionals, historians and fans could provide. I wanted more on what Hicks took from Woody Allen or Richard Pryor, how and why his stand-up worked, where he got his ideas from, what his philosophy was. But the film decided to forgo all that, I suspect because there has been enough talk about this already stuff already. But in terms of the specific, limited remit the film set for itself, I think it fulfilled it very well.I.V.P.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17167362896416316361noreply@blogger.com