At first glance, the combination of director Alexandre O. Philippe and William Shatner does not seem like an inherently harmonious pairing of documentarian and subject.
Philippe is a master of inquisitive cinema essays, examining films like The Exorcist, Alien and Psycho through a lens that is playful, but in a coldly intellectual way. I’ve said he makes the most artful, analytical DVD bonus-feature documentaries ever, and meant it entirely as a compliment.
Shatner is Shatner. He’s a screen presence of undeniable magnetism, a tremendous raconteur and a master of self-parody — but not a person whose mien I would ever expect to mesh with a “coldly intellectual” approach.
Despite a fully generic title that falsely suggests a project broadly tailored around Shatner’s ingrained lack of formality, You Can Call Me Bill ends up feeling very much like a Philippe film. Dismissing self-parody in favor of self-reflection, the 91-year-old...
Philippe is a master of inquisitive cinema essays, examining films like The Exorcist, Alien and Psycho through a lens that is playful, but in a coldly intellectual way. I’ve said he makes the most artful, analytical DVD bonus-feature documentaries ever, and meant it entirely as a compliment.
Shatner is Shatner. He’s a screen presence of undeniable magnetism, a tremendous raconteur and a master of self-parody — but not a person whose mien I would ever expect to mesh with a “coldly intellectual” approach.
Despite a fully generic title that falsely suggests a project broadly tailored around Shatner’s ingrained lack of formality, You Can Call Me Bill ends up feeling very much like a Philippe film. Dismissing self-parody in favor of self-reflection, the 91-year-old...
- 3/18/2023
- by Daniel Fienberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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