A Fuller Life (2013) Reviews

• Inventive

  morrishouse-799042017-04-01

  Samuel Fuller is one of the best. He was largely an avant-garde filmmaker, which results in the quality of his films increasing over time. White Dog, for instance, is an unmitigated masterpiece that was actually shelved when it was released. Its anti-racist message was considered "racist" before anyone actually saw the film. "A Fuller Life," a documentary about Samuel Fuller, is one of the most ingeniously crafted documentaries in a long time. The film is by Fuller's daughter Samantha, who employs the help of several people to read from his autobiography (every word of the film was written by Samuel Fuller), and utilizes footage from his films to tell the story. Samuel Fuller's overbearing presence is felt throughout the film, to the extent that when each person reads from the book, the spirit they knew leaps off the pages and their voice, and into your unsuspecting brain, which decrypts it as Fuller's voice, his words, his presence. Most of the film, maybe somewhat disappointingly, is about Fuller's time before making films. What is left is actually better than you might anticipate; it traces his sources of interest for making films. This all assists in painting a portrait of Fuller that's almost like a movie camera. But perhaps Fuller should be remembered for being a great storyteller than anything else.

• Sam by Sam

  happytrigger-64-3905172018-01-07

  There's actually a Sam Fuller retrospective at the french Cinémathèque in Paris, and the real surprise was this documentary shot by his daughter Samantha on her father, based on his writings (autobiography "A Third Face") read by great friends like Joe Dante, William Friedkin, the huge Bill Duke with his possessed performance, James Toback, James Franco, Monte Hellman, Tim Roth, Constance Towers (remember the beginning of 'The Naked Kiss") and others. "A Fuller Life" was shot in Sam's "shack", the room where he worked on his typewriting and had all his souvenirs (journalist time, war, movies), scripts (shot or not) and personal objects. Samantha directed all these friends reading Sam's writings in this fabulous "shack", some having Sam's object. The funniest being Wim Wenders smoking an old cigar Sam left in the ashtray, the cigar was so dry WW got quite stoned. I just loved the very first sequence, the most direct connection from Samantha to Sam, bravo again. I ended 2017 seeing at the same Cinémathèque the documentary "Max par Marcel", the famous Ophüls son speaking of his father Max with nice witnesses. I started 2018 with this Sam by Sam. So great documentaries.