Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction

Don't expect a traditional portrait here of veteran character actor Harry Dean Stanton, who has appeared in over 200 feature films during his 50-year-plus acting career. Filmmaker Sophie Huber offers more of an impression of the artist during a series of sketches and a couple of conversations with old friends and colleagues: coffee and cigarettes with David Lynch, reminiscing with Kris Kristofferson, and hanging out at his favorite L.A. bar, Dan Tana'S, where he's known the bartender for more than 40 years. Unfortunately, viewers will only see a handful of film clips from less than a dozen films, including Paris, Texas (his first leading role after decades of supporting parts), The Missouri Breaks, Repo Man, and Cool Hand Luke (in which he sings a spiritual), and Stanton doesn't like to talk about his personal life, or really pretty much of anything other than music (and he is completely modest and unassuming about his work). "Do nothing" and "play yourself" are his familiar pieces of advice, but his assistant has more to say about Stanton's deep commitment to his craft, and Huber does finally get Stanton to open up a bit. A fair portion of the film is given over to driving through Los Angeles with Stanton, the camera watching the landscape go by at night with little comment, as the actor sings his favorite songs (all in all, he probably sings more words than he speaks). Ultimately, however, this feels like an oddly fitting portrait of an actor who makes everything look so natural, a documentary that is concerned more with finding the character and personality of Stanton than in chronicling his life. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)