American: The Bill Hicks Story is an in-depth documentary looking at the life of a truly great and revolutionary comic talent in the aforementioned Bill Hicks. The film makers must be applauded for finally documenting the life of Hicks and doing so with the approval of his family. The interviews were well conducted with a variety of people from Bills life, and those interviewed only commented on their dealings with Bill and not hearsay. There is an abundance of footage of Hicks in early or small performances which give a fascinating insight into some of his lesser known routines. However due to licensing fees there is a lack of his more famous acts, sorely missing is the infamous 12th Letterman set, that was cut from the show much to Bills chagrin. Although the interviews were well conducted the interviewees rarely appeared on screen, instead we were subjected to photos of Bill that had been strangely animated, this made it hard to work out at times who was talking, a case where simplicity would have trumped visual flair by adding greater intimacy. There were also no interviews with the women of Bills life, a shame but one I understand was out of the director’s hands. Overall this was an abdicate take on the groundbreaking comedians life, however with a little less fiddling on their Apple Macs the makers could have produced a much more emotional film.
Score: 3/5
No comments:
Post a Comment