Change Your Image
SheldonLevine
Reviews
Big City Dick: Richard Peterson's First Movie (2004)
More Rain Man Than Rain Man
The better movies I have seen in my 63 years stay with you, reflecting off your personal experiences and rattling around in your head, taking you to new places of understanding about what it is to be a human being. This is what "BIG CITY DICK: Richard Peterson's First Movie" did for me, after seeing it at the Somerville Theater as part of the International Film Festival of Boston. I have heard Richard's dialogue, seen his pain and his joy, and hummed his inimitable music for days now in a wonderful stream of conciousness hangover from seeing the movie. Richard is still with me, making me laugh, and making me realize how easy life can be for some of us.
Far from traditional, staid, documentary form, the filmmakers were able to take a most challenging subject and reveal it to me in layers. "Capturing the Friedmans" came close, but I found this movie superior in every way, "Dick" is far more of an epic. Most of all, I was impressed with the time it took to produce, to paint a complete portrait of a most unusual man. And finally, the filmmakers managed to do it all without turning this Rain-Man like character into an object of derision, nor over-expressed sentimentality.
Three cheers for the three directors. They've got a winner, and best of luck getting distribution!
Sheldon Levine, (Retired Acquisitions Exec.)