I had just turned in my review for the new documentary, “American: The Bill Hicks Story“. When I walked out of the screening last week I didn’t initially feel that blown away but, as happens on occasion, as I began to wax on it, I realized that had left more of an impression than I thought. It sort of marinated a bit and as I wrote the review, I thought about how much I admired the entire approach to the filmmaking and how the interviews focused entirely on Bill’s loved ones, as opposed to famous personalities.
The doc was co-directed by Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas, a pair of Brit first-time directors. To repeat myself, I had just turned my review in to film-forward last Sunday, one which turned out pretty positive response in the end, when just by coincidence I ended up running into one of the filmmakers at Monday night’s Shooters in the Pub. This is a monthly social networking event for filmmakers or other related industry folks hosted by a LES bar called Sweet & Vicious. I attend just about every month for two reasons, no three, actually. First, I am friends with the people who run the sponsoring organization, Shooting People, and write posts for them on occasion. Secondly, I am shopping for films for the filmwax film series and many eager filmmakers come to these networking evenings. Third (& fourth), I can see my friends and drink cheap or for free (always an incentive). Meeting Matt was a nice chance encounter. He was a really funny warm guy, and he gave me a movie t-shirt! I now advertise American: The Bill Hicks Story.
