Advanced Search Beta »
Basic Search Fields
Bill Cunningham New York
Bill Cunningham New York Image
See the trailer
Metascore
77 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 20 Critics What's this?

User Score
8.8 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 4 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
Rate this:
  • Starring: Anna Wintour, Bill Cunningham
  • Summary: “We all get dressed for Bill,” says Vogue editrix Anna Wintour. The “Bill” in question is 80+ New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham. For decades, this Schwinn-riding cultural anthropologist has been obsessively and inventively chronicling fashion trends and high society charity soirées for the Times Style section in his columns “On the Street” and “Evening Hours.” Documenting uptown fixtures (Wintour, Tom Wolfe, Brooke Astor, David Rockefeller—who all appear in the film out of their love for Bill), downtown eccentrics and everyone in between, Cunningham’s enormous body of work is more reliable than any catwalk as an expression of time, place and individual flair. In turn, Bill Cunningham New York is a delicate, funny and often poignant portrait of a dedicated artist whose only wealth is his own humanity and unassuming grace. (Zeitgeist Films)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 20
  3. Negative: 0 out of 20
  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    May 19, 2011
    100
    Here is a good and joyous man who leads a life that is perfect for him, and how many people do we meet like that? This movie made me happy every moment I was watching it.
  2. Movieline
    Reviewed by: Stephanie Zacharek
    Mar 16, 2011
    95
    What Press comes up with in the end isn't just a portrait of individual eccentricity. Its larger subject is the way one man, just by being alive to what's around him, has created a vast, detailed anthropological record of how New Yorkers present, and feel, about themselves.
  3. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    Mar 18, 2011
    60
    It's hard not to wonder if Press might have offered a similarly impactful portrait in a more concise manner.

See all 20 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. CitizenCharlie
    10
    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 as it was 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.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

Trailers

Recommended Products

  1. Circo

    • Release Date: Apr 1, 2011
    Circo Image

  2. Room and a Half

    • Release Date: Jan 22, 2010
    Room and a Half Image

  3. Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders

    • Release Date: Jun 4, 2010
    Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders Image

Current Movie Releases

Full List »
  1. The Secret World of Arrietty
    Metascore: 81
  2. War Horse
    Metascore: 72
  3. Haywire
    Metascore: 67
  4. The Grey
    Metascore: 64
  5. The Woman in Black
    Metascore: 62
  6. The Iron Lady
    Metascore: 54
  7. Safe House
    Metascore: 52
  8. Contraband
    Metascore: 52
  9. Red Tails
    Metascore: 46
  10. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
    Metascore: 46
  11. The Vow
    Metascore: 43
  12. Underworld Awakening
    Metascore: 39
  13. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
    Metascore: 31
  14. This Means War
    Metascore: 31
  15. One for the Money
    Metascore: 22
  16. The Devil Inside
    Metascore: 18
  17. The Darkest Hour
    Metascore: 16
All Current Movies »