Bill Cunningham New York
Zeitgeist Films | Release Date: March 16, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
76
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertMay 19, 2011
Here is a good and joyous man who leads a life that is perfect for him, and how many people do we meet like that? This movie made me happy every moment I was watching it. Read full review
95
MovielineStephanie ZacharekMar 16, 2011
What Press comes up with in the end isn't just a portrait of individual eccentricity. Its larger subject is the way one man, just by being alive to what's around him, has created a vast, detailed anthropological record of how New Yorkers present, and feel, about themselves. Read full review
90
The New York TimesCarina ChocanoMar 17, 2011
If the film suggests that there's something bittersweet about a life dedicated to a single pursuit cultivated with an almost religious fervor, it also stands in awe of its subject's seemingly inexhaustible, self-abnegating capacity to remain attuned to the expression of others. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubScott TobiasMar 17, 2011
It's no insult to say that the fine documentary Bill Cunningham New York resembles one of those minor profiles found in The New Yorker's "Talk Of The Town" section: a slight, glancing, yet subtly wrought slice of New York life. And it seems likely that the exceedingly modest Cunningham would want it that way. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawMar 16, 2012
He lived until recently in bohemian chaos in one of the "artist apartments" in Carnegie Hall, and cares nothing for money or vanity. That's real class. Read full review
80
Total FilmCarmen GrayMar 16, 2012
A documentary that'll make more than just fashionistas smile. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 23, 2011
As much as his admirers praise him, they also say they don't know much about him or his private life. Press opens a small window into that world. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesMay 19, 2011
Near the end Press poses a couple of personal questions that pierce the old man's defenses in the most painful and revealing way, suggesting a much more complicated emotional wellspring for the work that consumes his life. Read full review
80
SlateNathan HellerMar 19, 2011
The Bill Cunningham captured here is a puckish, eightysomething man with electric energy and a wish to devour all of New York through his camera lens. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberMar 14, 2011
This fascinating documentary about famed photographer Bill Cunningham features interviews with Vogue editor Anna Wintour, author Tom Wolfe and New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. Read full review
80
VarietyRonnie ScheibMar 14, 2011
Rarely has anyone embodied contradictions as happily and harmoniously as octogenarian New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham. Read full review
80
Boxoffice MagazinePam GradyMar 14, 2011
The documentary will resonate with New York Times' readers and fans of personal stories. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyApr 22, 2011
Not surprisingly, it's a cinematic mash note, but apparently a deserved one. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezApr 21, 2011
Shows us a man who not only derives great pleasure from devoting himself to his job but also, in the process, has helped shaped the greatest city in the world. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoApr 7, 2011
Cunningham's work is about seeing and teaching us how to see, and that should be plenty for us. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisApr 7, 2011
It's as much a portrait of a kind of artist as it is a document of a city's evolving sense of style. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsApr 1, 2011
Cunningham's answers to pointed questions about romantic love and religious faith are so open-hearted, we understand that he's bigger than just New York. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranMar 24, 2011
Front and center in all of this, though he clearly would rather not be, is Cunningham himself, a man of enormous good cheer who gets riled only when he fears his creative prerogatives are being infringed on. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMark HolcombMar 15, 2011
No passion for fashion is required to enjoy this absorbing portrait of legendary New York Times "On the Street" photographer Bill Cunningham, but a sense of history and tragedy might help. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesMay 19, 2011
Provides no revelations and left this viewer, at least, puzzling over whether the picture Cunningham has allowed to develop of him is completely transparent or utterly impenetrable. Read full review
60
EmpireDavid ParkinsonMar 12, 2012
As Cunningham goes about his work chronicling changes in fashion and the city he loves, a portrait emerges of a man deserving of ever bit of the respect and esteem in which he's held. There's few sharp edges or dirt digging, but it's no less engaging for that. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanMar 18, 2011
It's hard not to wonder if Press might have offered a similarly impactful portrait in a more concise manner. Read full review
60
Time OutDavid FearMar 15, 2011
Anyone curious about the man behind the lens may find this doc, like its subject, frustratingly opaque and out of reach. Those interested in witnessing a true NYC eccentric document everyday-people city life one outfit at a time, however, will feel like this has been tailor-made. Read full review
More From This Movie

76 Critic Reviews

7.8 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL