Wonderful film about the misunderstood and often contradictory peculiarities of the fashion world. Bill himself is an everyday man strikingly distinct from some of the outrageous fashions on display in contemporary New York yet he is respected ans one of the most enduring authorities on fashion today. His simple and discreet way of living as embodied by his spare and modest studio in Carnegie hall (a stark contrast in itself) illustrates Cunningham's principles on fashion itself: "It's not the celebrity, the spectacle, it's the clothes." What is also insightful is how tends and set and grow organically out on the street, not on some fashion runway (although it remains a fascination for Bill). The idea that fashion is not just for the rich and famous, but for the everyday person is exemplified by the "bag ladies" of new york, the "water bottle", "baggy jeans", and 80s fashion; it's lovely to see Bill pay tribute to these somewhat eccentric trends in the column that also charts the who's who of high society in New York as if to say "these are our people, and this is our culture, no matter who you are."Bill is a charming and enigmatic character, still going strong at 80(!) years and heartwarming to see with so much respect amongst his peers. The city of New York is a character itself as always, the variety of fashion and cultures is incredibly rich and entertaining. He shows that there are many good people in high society who donate themselves to charitable and artistic institutions; yet while he becomes involved in that world of riches he remains cautious about becoming too involved dedicating himself solely to the art of fashion.While Bill concedes he may not have lived the ideal life (and I think the interviewer probes just a little too close), his life remains immensely rich from his friends and connections, one in which he has almost free rein to document his passions, ironically without the material things fashion itself can exemplify. He is such an enigmatic and joyous character that one can only believe his is greatly fulfilled by life, and only wrongly assume, he is missing out on anything.

Bill Cunningham can't be bought. He is there to observe and to take pictures, not to consume the fancy meal or mingle with the celebrities; a line which most individuals in his position would most likely blur. Bill has a section of the Sunday New York Times Style section where he will point out a new clothing trend he sees on the streets, what people were wearing at a recent evening gala, or just profile an interesting looking person. I used to skip over this section every week; however, now that I know about Bill from the excellent documentary Bill Cunningham New York, I will never skip over this section again.Even though Bill is now 80 years old, he still dons his signature blue jacket every day and rides his bicycle all over Manhattan searching and taking pictures. If it is raining, he will duct tape a garbage bag over his shirt. He is searching for interesting clothing and it does not matter if a celebrity is wearing them or not. A major separation between Bill and other photographers is he is just fine not taking a celebrity picture; he does not care at all about a person's fame level, just in their choice of clothing.Bill is usually the first to notice a new trend. While frequenting street corners, crosswalks, and the outside of department stores, he will immediately stop his bike (sometimes in the middle of traffic) to snap a few shots. During the first week of August, he happened to notice that a lot of New Yorkers were wearing black and made that a his column's focus. Bill has become a celebrity on his bicycle as he cruises the streets and there are many influential people, who Bill could care less about, who crave his attention. There are interviews from Anna Wintour, Tom Wolfe, and other very powerful people in the fashion industry who will also take time out of their day to find out what Bill knows.Even though he has the power to affect clothing trends, until very recently, Bill lived in Carnegie Hall as one of the few remaining visual artist tenants before the final lot of them were evicted to new premises. He slept on a cot in what could be described as closet space surrounded by dozens of file cabinets containing his life's work. If Bill thinks he has seen something before, he is pretty sure he can go back and find it. One example is of a designer who revealed a new collection only for Bill to find a 1972 photo montage of an eerily similar line.Bill Cunningham New York is a documentary I was not eager to see because I assumed it was just about the fashion world. I was completely wrong. It is not about fashion, it is just about Bill and his routine which is completely absorbing and perhaps the best documentary of the year. It is also the second documentary this year dealing with the New York Times released just before Page One: Inside the New York Times. Now that I have seen them both, there is a reason the story on Bill Cunningham is on the short list of 15 documentaries which are eligible for this year's Best Documentary Oscar. If it happens to win, it will not matter very much to Bill. He will be doing what he does every day, riding his bicycle to find the next interesting pair of shoes.

This feature about one of the worlds leading photographers is something not to be missed. It paints the portrait of a man who see's the world from a different view than most. It shows the beauty in the mind of one who's view on fashion is something that comes from a deeper place. We get to see snip-it's of Bill Cunningham's deepest emotions and also the vision of a true visionary. These moments captured are charming, slightly funny, and relevant. Of all the documentaries scoping the life of one person I've seen, they really don't get much better than this. This film, which does have much critical acclaim now, is one that is deserving of it's praise, and at the same time is not in any way pretentious. It is not only one of the most heartfelt films of the year, but also one of the very best.

This documentary about Bill Cunningham, a fashion photographer for the New York Times, and New York City street photographer, held my interest until it started getting repetitive. Indeed, Cunningham, now in his 80s, is a unique character what with his ascetic lifestyle and riding his bike all over New York City pursuing his passion for photographing any mode of dress he finds interesting. And the irony of his photographing the rich and famous was not lost on me. But I began to tire of all of the footage that had him riding his bike around and the mechanics of publishing his photographs.The most frustrating thing for me was that I wanted to see more of his work. For the most part we see images, frequently multiple images per frame, for a split second. Impossible to absorb them with any level of appreciation. There were several scenes showing Cunningham working with an assistant (and driving him nuts) to compose layouts for the Times. Again, all we see is split second takes showing him moving images around. Damn it, I wanted to see more of his work. Don't most artists say that you can know them best through their work? We don't get to see enough of Cunningham's work to make that judgment. We often see Cunningham rushing down a sidewalk in front of someone he wanted to photograph so that he could get some good shots when they passed by. These scenes made me uncomfortable by their apparent rudeness, but maybe that is pretty low level stuff for New Yorkers. But I have to think that many a person who was idly walking down the street one day only to find their picture in the New York Times the next day would be a bit irritated. There was a missed opportunity to discuss the legality of photographing people in public spaces.