Billy the Kid

A documentary about a high schooler having a hard time fitting in. The boy, Billy, is an impressionable kindhearted loner. He wanders around his town in Maine pondering life. He gets good advice from his mom. He rocks out to some rock. He tries to woo a girl in town. He talks to some younger kids who don't quite know what to make of him.

All in all, the movie is pretty interesting. It is shot in a cinema verite style which adds and detracts. I liked the way some of the scenes unfold in a leisurely pace. I would have liked the film a bit more if I had a bit more context on the way some of the people in the town think about Billy. Obviously, he doesn't really fit in but a little context would have gone a long way. How much did the cameras change the way people interacted with him? My guess is that the people were a little nicer to him than they would have been without the cameras rolling.

After the film was finished, Billy was diagnosed with Asperger's. However, this fact isn't even mentioned in the credits. I guess Venditti wanted to simply tell his story within the few days she filmed his life and not give any sort of prologue or epilogue.

SHR was bored.

Directed by Jennifer Venditti
2007
Cinemax