Bill Cunningham New York

Synopsis

"We all get dressed for Bill", says Vogue editor Anna Wintour. The Bill in question is The 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's Style section in his columns "On the Street" and "Evening Hours".

Full of uptown fixtures (such as Wintour, Tom Wolfe, Brooke Astor, David Rockefeller—who all appear in the film), downtown eccentrics and everyone in between, Cunningham's enormous body of work documents its time and place as well as individual flair. Bill Cunningham New York portrays the man at work (on the street and at the office) and at home (a Carnegie Hall studio).

Cast

Awards

Release

Bill Cunningham New York played at New York City's Film Forum from March 16 to 29, 2011, before opening in theaters in a limited release around the United States.

Reviews

The film was critically well-received, garnering a 99% approval rating on movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. The Hollywood Reporter described Bill Cunningham New York as a "Fascinating doc about a photographer surveying the highs and lows of New York society." New York Magazine chose Bill Cunningham New York as one of their Critics' Picks. Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars, writing "This movie made me happy every moment I was watching it."