I am a big Charles Bukowski fan. I love his work. Part of the reason I keep my writing to myself is because I’m afraid that my some of my short-work is too much in his style. So, when I saw this movie/documentary was available, I couldn’t wait to see it. It was decently done, a little dry cut. It showcases a lot of his readings and archived footage. I liked that. What I didn’t like was the modern interviews. Why the fuck do I care what Bono thinks about ANYthing!? Do I give a freeze-dried shit what Bono thinks about the Buk? No! No, I do not. But, crappy interviews aside, it was FULL of Buk footage and I was happy to see that. I haven’t seen a lot of actual footage of the man. He’s just as crazy as I imagined. Just as eccentric and just as drunk. Too many people imitating that whole life now. It can’t be done. It was a different time, it was a different world.
I may pick this one up if I see it in a cut-out bin. I’ve got ‘Factotum’ and I’m dying to get a DVD copy of ‘Barfly’. But those are just characters he wrote. Even if they are based on himself, they aren’t him. It was good to see live footage but you’d have to be a fan to watch it and you’d have to be an uber-fan to buy it.
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