Bill Cunningham: New York

Greetings again from the darkness. Well my fashion sense is limited to jeans, a t-shirt and tennis shoes. I would not be one's first choice to discuss the industry of fashion photography. However, that's not what this documentary is really about. Instead of focusing on the photographs of Bill Cunningham, director Richard Press shoots the man at work and in life ... the two being indistinguishable for Mr. Cunningham.

If you aren't familiar with his name, you are not alone. Bill Cunningham has a long running NY TIMES page where his photographs are displayed. He also has a feature called "On The Street", where he records commentary for his photographs - this can be heard on the website. Still, none of that tells you much about this man.

The film opens abruptly with video of Cunningham at work. He is alternatingly riding his bicycle and sprint-walking as he weaves through the sea of taxis and humanity in downtown Manhattan. His trusty camera is always around his neck as he continues his quest for fashion on the street ... fashion sense in the working people of the city. His eye is sharp and quick. We never know what he will hone in on. Maybe a never-before-seen winter coat, a flamboyant hat, or even a pair of heels that a woman is sporting. The man is over 80 years old and his eye and mind still quickly process what he deems worthy of notice.

Once again, none of those words do justice to this man or his story. He lives an incredibly humble life in a studio apartment within the confines of Carnegie Hall. Yes, as the film takes place, he is among the last of the remaining residents of the great hall. We learn management has determined that the few residents will be moved out of the building and relocated to other apartments nearby. We meet one of the other residents ... the fascinating "Duchesss of Carnegie", Editta Sherman. She has lived there for 60 years and it has been her home and photography studio. She made her living shooting celebrities and we catch a glimpse of her amazing work ... including a short video of her dancing in the 60's - filmed by Andy Warhol! Ms. Sherman's space is palatial compared to Cunningham's. His small studio apartment is crammed with metal file cabinets, each loaded with decades worth of photographs and negatives ... a real history of New York fashion. His bed is a twin mattress held up by books and crates - no kitchen, and a community bathroom. "Humble existence" is an understatement.

We learn from Mr. Cunningham that his work is divided into three parts: his street work, fashion shows, and charity events. He makes it clear that celebrities bore him and he is much more interested in how the everyday person uses fashion in their real life. Still, early on, we get comments from Vogue editor, Anna Wintour about how Cunningham's eye impacts the fashion world. She gives him much credit. We also get quickies from Tom Wolfe, Annie Flanders and even Brooke Astor to see how easily Cunningham fits in with the upper crust, despite his connection to the street. There is even a segment in Paris where he is honored by the French Order of Art and Letters ... and he "works" his own event! But it's the street where he is most at home. He says he is on his 29th bicycle ... the first 28 were stolen. He states this with the same enthusiasm that he shoots his subjects. The man is a constant smile and quick with banter, yet we learn just how alone he really is. When asked about his friends, family, lovers ... he momentarily breaks down only to regroup and express his love for what he does - it's not work, it's pleasure.

By the end, it's clear that while so many people respect the man and his work, no one really knows him. He lets his pictures stand as the testament to decades of documenting the colors and patterns and style of New Yorkers.

I love Bill Cunningham. He's the original street fashion photographer - the one who mastered today's trend - and a New York institution. For years, he's been documenting fashion trends on the streets of New York, which he traverses on his trusty Schwinn, reporting for The New York Times.

Cunningham does a regular feature for the Times called "On the Street" in which you hear him talk about the photos he's taken. He's always so unabashedly enthusiastic.

Who knew you could be so happy about trench coats, leggings, and leopard print? OK, so I've been happy about those things (maybe not the leopard print). But Cunningham's appreciation for statement and expression makes fashion seem like a place for everyday adventure instead of a consumer trap.

A new documentary called "Bill Cunningham: New York" opens in San Diego this weekend. In it, we learn that Cunningham's life is his work. He's in his 80s and has lived something of monastic existence in the name of fashion - or as he might put it - the pursuit of beauty.

He's never had a romantic relationship. He attends church every Sunday. For years he lived in a tiny apartment above Carnegie Hall packed with file cabinets where he stores copies of every photograph he's ever taken (he's still shooting film). The apartment had no kitchen and a public bathroom down the hall. He stored his bike in a hall closet, retrieving it daily to hit the streets with his camera and rolls of film.

Cunningham and the last remaining tenants (paying rent-control prices) at Carnegie Hall moved last year, forced out by the owners who wanted to expand and renovate the apartments into offices and classrooms.

The film also introduces us to Cunningham's former and eccentric neighbors at Carnegie Hall. The most fascinating is Editta Sherman, a 99-year-old photographer who was once a muse for Andy Warhol. Sherman has been called the "Duchess of Carnegie Hall" where she lived for over 60 years.

For all the artifice and pretense of the worlds he covers (fashion and New York society), Cunningham is humble and completely without airs. He's a chronic smiler and his sense of humor is refreshing in an industry known for pouty lips and raised eyebrows.

For more of this review, go to the Culture Lust blog on www.kpbs.org

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.

www.eattheblinds.com

I just got off an overseas flight from London and was lucky enough to start the long journey with a great documentary: Bill Cunningham New York, by Richard Press.

Even if fashion isn't your thing, Bill is such a rare and inspiring person, it's impossible to not be moved by his story. At 80 years old, Bill continues to bike all over Manhattan, snapping photos for his NYT feature "On the Street." He's one of the original street style photographers and his legacy is not only respected by those in the know, his influence ripples through the entire fashion industry.

This is one of the best documentaries you will see. A humble, honest, artistic and amazingly talented man manages to stay connected with the real world despite being a very integral part of the dizzy, artificial world of high fashion. One review here said the filmmakers hadn't really delved enough into Cunningham's personal life. I'd agree -- where did he come from? What were his family's occupations? Wasn't there anyone from his childhood to talk to? Maybe he ruled this out. And clues as to why they didn't persist with this line are in the film -- he is tongue tied when asked about his relationships, and a little shy. In fact some of those personal questions scenes make him excruciatingly self conscious. Like many photographers, he prefers to document the story, not be the centre of attention. And in any case, probably just capturing him cycle around New York and snap the perfect street fashion shots is pretty interesting. Especially the scenes in which he zeroes in on some amazing trend such as polkadots or ponchos or low slung jeans. Overall, the most likable thing about Cunningham is that he is very much an individual, which is also what he says he loves most about his photographic subjects -- how they express themselves, how they're not just part of the crowd. May he long continue to roam the streets of New York.