The Times of Bill Cunningham

Bill Cunningham: New York is one of the most enduring documentaries of the 21st century. Why do we need another nonfiction film about the celebrated New York Times photographer a mere 10 years later?

Well, Mark Bozek's The Times of Bill Cunningham is more of a full life portrait of the unwitting fashion icon, centered on an extended, illuminating interview that the director held with his subject in 1994.

The archival chat and smartly chosen accompanying footage and imagery bring Cunningham’s history into greater focus, as it were, and while the film isn’t exactly a great work of art, its engaging, well-made, and thoroughly informative portrait of a great man compensates for its creative deficiencies.

Cued to a catchy soundtrack that includes eight tunes by Moby, himself a bit of an unlikely NYC celebrity, The Times of Bill Cunningham energetically chronicles how the photographer independently took to the streets to see how people were dressing, discovering answers he didn't witness on the runways.

In the choice cuts from Bozek’s interview, which went from its intended 5-10 minutes to several hours, the director digs deep into his subject’s humble motivations and downright monastic lifestyle.

Standout nuggets include Cunningham considering himself a fashion historian instead of a photographer, a mindset that turned him into a copious documenter with loads of unpublished work; his deep fondness for the infinite possibilities provided by his hometown; and, in a rare showcase of vulnerability, the impact of losses of close friends to AIDS.

When the interviewee isn’t lovingly telling his story to Bozek, The Times of Bill Cunningham is tastefully augmented by narration from Cunningham admirer Sarah Jessica Parker, filling in blanks that, considering the resources at hand (further limited by his 2016 death), couldn’t be addressed in a better way.

But more often than not, the film wisely lets Cunningham be its star, and his reflections on his iconic cheap bicycles, lack of personal fashion sense, and dedication to "work well” every day with no interest in personal glory or celebrity makes for thoroughly effective entertainment.

Grade: A-minus. Not rated. Now available to rent from the Fine Arts Theatre and Grail Moviehouse

(Photo by Harold Chapman/Topfoto/The Image Works, courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment)