American: The Bill Hicks Story.

Mr E

Biographical documentary coming out this Summer, and it looks terrific.
See what you think of the trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaUvt81gH9c

I'm a massive Bill Hicks fan, and if this was only on in Dublin, I'd travel to see it.

MintyDoris

Cannot wait to see this! I'm a huge fan and even if one didn't agree with what he said, I feel the way he communicated himself showed an intelligence and a way of thinking that is rare

I wonder if this film is supported by his family?

Slightly off topic - I am looking for some old pictures of Bill Hicks. I can find many of him when he was older but none when he was young. Any ideas anyone?

Nevloige

AMAZING COMEDIAN!! Will never get sick of his material!

pappyodaniel

I never met the the man and I never heard of him when he was alive but Hicks indirectly changed my life.

SlimJ

Did any of y'all read "American Scream"?

pappyodaniel

SlimJ wrote: »

Did any of y'all read "American Scream"?

I've read that and "Love all the people" but both didn't feel definitive. I hear his mate Kevin Booth has written a book about him though, he's a lifelong friend so that would probably give the best insight of the man.

Feeona

MintyDoris wrote: »

I'm a huge fan and even if one didn't agree with what he said, I feel the way he communicated himself showed an intelligence and a way of thinking that is rare

Goatboy springs to mind!

He definitely knew how to get his message across with maximum impact. I listened to his shows on cd before I saw his stage performances. When I finally saw the stage performances, it was exactly how I'd imagined they would be-the way he used his voice and his physical actions complemented each other perfectly

MintyDoris

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKN39bVFLNY&feature=fvsr

Just stumbled across this ...

Edit: sorry, not too sure how to add youtube clips properly

MintyDoris

Feeona wrote: »

Goatboy springs to mind!

Ah Goatboy, it makes me laugh and blush, all at the same time

rovert

Seems like the old Channel 4 doc with nice graphics.

mewso

https://www.ifibooking.ie/bookingmovieDetails.tpl?showcode=6808

Mr E

Anyone heading to this tomorrow night? I'd be interested in hearing some reviews....

mewso

Yes I'm heading along. I'll post my thoughts after.

mewso

Well just in from seeing this. Thought it was excellent. I wasn't sure if the animation thingy would work but it did. A long time ago I bought some bootleg stuff online that amounted to 1.7GB of all things Hicks and I mean pretty much everything so I would expect someone who hasn't had access to any of that to enjoy it even more than I did as they have a lot of archive footage.

Most annoying thing was everyone started to leave before the film was finished proper and people were trying to get by me as I was trying to read the bits of info. on what the people in the film are up to now.

The Directors were due to be there but couldn't make it because of Ash-Gate so there was a Q&A with them on Skype. I'm not much for Q&As really as most of the time they are "look how cool I am because I know so many details about the subject" fests but it was interesting enough.

It goes from his beginnings to his end and the footage is all pertinent to the period in question. The "It's a ride" ending was predictable but couldn't really imagine it ending any other way really. I don't consider it a spoiler. Anyone who knows Bill Hicks material would probably expect that to be right where it is.

In a nutshell highly recommended. It goes on full release some time in May and will be on in the IFI again at that time.

DVD release sounds good. The directors were promising a lot of extra interviews, footage etc.

marc lambert

i cant wait for that to come out better show in ireland and way a way to finish the trailer

pappyodaniel

I think general release will be Fri 14th May, although I'm not so sure what cinemas it'll be showing in.

I'll be in Cork next weekend so if anyone knows whether this will be shown down there let me know.

Nailz

I went to Screen all the way from Cavan just to see it yesterday, it was one of the most worthwhile things I've ever done, I loved every minute of it and I left full of cheer and with a smile on my face, totally worth the travel, I'd recommend it to people in Kerry!

And yeah I read American Scream and Kevin Booth (and friends') biography "Agent of Evolution", the latter being the best, it's the whole article, the story in FULL, and it's official and direct than American Scream.

grames_bond

The folks over on the film forum are organinig a Meet up for this on thursday if anyone is interested! i cant wait for it!

pappyodaniel

Finally got around to seeing this the other night and was more than pleased with the result, esp. the cut and paste animation which gave life to the interviews and stories about the man by his friends and family.

Tbh I didn't learn anything new from this film but it has rekindled my interest in listening to him again.

AnnyHallsal

I watched this last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. The footage of Hicks before he found his voice was particularly interesting. My opinion of him was already, of course, high, but when it was over I was even more impressed, and touched by the tragedy of his far too early death. If only Ireland had a voice like this, of such insightful, well-focused anger, at this time.

Henno30

Watched it a couple of months ago. Very good to be fair. Interesting experience watching someone watch Hicks for the first time these days. The political nature of his material is so much more common place now that people don't realise just how significant he was. So much imitation of him. He'll be significant forever more though. His ideas are timeless.