Bill Cunningham New York

I wasn't sure how I felt going into Bill Cunningham New York. I thought to myself this is a man who goes around New York photographing men and women wearing their attire, and doing a lot of cutting and pasting into making it a weekly section in The New York Times. But I also thought that this couldn't be the end of the story. Something about Bill Cunningham had to be interesting, creative, and unique to get his own film.

Thankfully, I thought correctly, and now am fully intrigued by the life of eighty-year old Bill Cunningham. His job is not only a different one, but one he tirelessly continues to do as he rides around on his twenty-ninth Schwinn bicycle up and down lower Manhattan to photograph boots, hats, scarfs, clothes, pants, etc. This is a man who through thick and thin keeps on smiling. You'd never know he was having a bad day because he'd most likely smile during that too.

Bill lives in a tiny, rent-controlled apartment in Carnegie Hall where there is no kitchen, but dozens of file cabinets filled with negatives and positives of photos he's taken over the past several years. He sleeps on a mattress that lies on top of several more file cabinets. All I can say is if you think you're a dedicated lawyer, do you sleep on your briefcase? The film is 90% about Bill and his photography, and the other 10% tries to nudge him in the side trying to dig deeper in his personal life when he won't let you. We keep asking questions like "Is Bill straight?," "Does he date?," and etc, but we get little to no answers. Maybe because this is a documentary about his work not his personal life. But the neglection of something a documentary on a specific person needs, a little background, just brings this gem down a tad bit.

Bill explains how when he was a young child, at Church on Sundays, instead of listening to the preacher he'd be too busy staring at other people's hats. This shows that his passion for fashion, a relatively eclectic thing, started early and never held up.

Many of us work at a job that keeps us satisfied and puts food on the table. Bill works a job that keeps him over-joyed and puts food on his floor next to his file-cabinets. Rarely do a lot of people truly love what they are doing, but Bill is one of them. He's a person who if you watch be happy for a while, it begins to make you smile. He's the kind of person that just fills you with glee.

Bill Cunningham New York is short and sweet, but still leaves many questions unanswered that I'm sure will remain unanswered forever. Bill is a closed book, but open if you ask him anything about fashion. He's a mirror-image of what you can become if you take life on the slow track and live a very basic, yet eventful life. It's almost inspiring with its storytelling of just a simple, yet so complex man of interest.

Starring: Bill Cunningham. Directed by: Richard Press.

I have lived in Manhattan for 32 years, 31 of them a very short walking distance from the corner of 57th and 5th, where Mr. Cunningham hunts his prey during the year. I have met him and seen him at work, but knew very little about him. This wonderful documentary not only shows Cunningham going after his shots, but is a wonderful window into the role of fashion and society in New York, with incredible images going back to the 1970s (and in some cases, even earlier). I admit that I cried for about 15 minutes in the beginning, so beautifully do the filmmakers create Cunningham's world -- and a New York I have had the privilege of experiencing. If you liked "The September Issue," or the recent Valentino or Yves St. Laurent documentaries, run don't walk to Bill Cunningham New York. And if you're a gay man of a certain age, bring Kleenex.

Bill Cunningham is an influential and beloved fashion photographer working at the New York Times but very few people actually know him. He has been photographing the fashion seen on the streets for around 30 years. He rides his bicycle. He eats cheap food. He doesn't spend money on clothes. His small Spartan apartment is filled with file cabinets holding all his negatives. He doesn't care about money. He and his friend Editta Sherman are getting evicted. At his core, he is obsessed with fashion and photographing the changing style in New York. It's a fascinating portrait. It also doesn't shy away from the obvious personal questions. It comes later in the movie just as the lack of personal life starts to be prominent. It reveals the real person behind the camera.

I can't positively gush about this movie more than any other viewer can. This documentary warms the heart and allows people to see a side of life not many seem to slow down enough to view. I had never heard of him before watching this, but Bill truly is a great man. This movie makes me want to slow down and appreciate the everyday styles that people choose. I loved the various side-interviews with notable subjects of his photographs and colleagues, many of whom have similarly quirky yet important stories to tell. The music was so well grafted into the scenes that you may overlook it, but it guides the times and New York-living so well that it shouldn't be overlooked, either. If you're looking for a heart-warming documentary about a very important figure and artist in modern fashion photography, you'll enjoy learning about Bill as much as I did.

Bill Cunningham New York (2010)

*** (out of 4)

Nice documentary cover photographer Bill Cunningham who rides around New York City on his bicycle taking pictures of everyone from your average person on the street to some higher known people. We follow Bill as he rides around the city, working on the streets and in his office and we also learn about his personal life including him living at Carnegie Hall. I'll admit that I really wasn't familiar with Cunningham in any way so I went into this documentary rather blind. I found the movie to be fascinating mainly because Cunningham is such an interesting figure. I will admit that fans of photography will probably enjoy this a lot more than I did because that subject is just something that has never really interested me. However, as a character study I found myself entertained throughout the majority of the running time. I enjoyed watching how Cunningham would just ride around town snapping shots of what he found interesting. I thought it was rather fun seeing how he would show his work and what he would or wouldn't want to do with it. It was interesting hearing his thoughts about a magazine who went against his wishes and showed "normal" people as being something less than the more famous ones he photographed. Overall, fans of Cunningham should really love this look at the man, his work and his thoughts. Others should still be entertained even if they're not familiar with the man or care about the work he does.