Audience Member
The greatest 01 hour: and 20 minutes with real footage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/11/23
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Audience Member
A great, and personal tribute to the godfather of indie film, Sam Fuller, from his daughter Samantha. She weaves together personal film footage never seen before with excerpts of Sam's writing read by Joe Dante, James Franco, William Friedkin, Wim Wenders, and Mark Hamill among others. A must see for Sam Fuller fans.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/20/23
Full Review
Audience Member
A Fuller Life (2013)
Inventive
1 April 2017 - 1 out of 1 users found this review helpful.
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.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/14/23
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A Fuller Life is a fantastic journey of what it was like to live in the United States during the 20th century, told through the eyes of a writer and filmmaker Samuel Fuller. The story starts from his early days as a crime reporter, to volunteering for the military during WWII and his prolific filmmaking career afterwards. The most fascinating part of this movie is that everything you see is historically accurate and most of the images were shot by Samuel, showing his life journey. The story is told from Samuel's own words, read by admirers, friends and colleagues, all of whom are well known actors, writers and directors. I absolutely love this movie because there is nothing quite like it on the market, it's very relaxed storytelling method, allows the audience to really absorb what's being told, without having to re-watch sections. Mixed with some of Samuel Fullers movie clips to spice up the action, A Fuller Life really does show the 20th century in a way no other movie has.
A Fuller Life is available for sale on http://chrisamfilms.com/ and streaming on https://www.filmstruck.com/
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/19/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Only Samantha Fuller could've made this film. I went through such a range of emotions watching it, and I could feel the love pouring out of this. Perfecto.
It reminded me of why I fell in love with Sam's work in the first place, and I LOVED the Joe Dante segment with that still animation, and Bill Duke was brilliant. The B&W stuff with BIG RED ONE cast was amazing.
I loved that transition from Constance Tower's face from the opening of NAKED KISS to Constance reading today. This makes me want to re-re-read A THIRD FACE.
I think one things that seems to escape many here is just how much of a documentarian Sam was with that footage of WW2 -- it's incredible when you realize what his reality was in that moment and how he had the insights to document that -- as if he knew in that exact minute that it was going to define everything for, not just him, but the world and that generation.
I also really loved that moment in the finale with Constance Towers talking about how she could feel Sam in the emotions of the characters she played with him in his films. I loved how the film chose to create that direct connect between the audience and the storyteller by having them talk directly too us and not at us.
Oh, and a great score too! This is one of my favorite films this year, and one of the best.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/23/23
Full Review
Audience Member
A Fuller Life joyously recounts the life and work of maverick and legendary filmmaker, Samuel Fuller (1912-1997). The film, made by his daughter Samantha Fuller, magically recreates Sam's life by having many of the actors Sam worked with- like Jennifer Beals, Mark Hamill, and Bill Duke- reading excerpts from his autobiography, A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting, and Filmmaking. Also, the film has a wonderful selection of Sam's films from the late 1940's to the 1980's and his life as a newspaper reporter, WWII soldier, and Hollywood director. This film is a must see for anyone who loves cinema and its unsung heroes and pioneers!
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/20/23
Full Review
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