Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction (2012)

Director: Sophie Huber

Starring: Harry Dean Stanton, David Lynch, Sam Shepard, Kris Kristofferson, Wim Wenders, Debbie Harry, Jamie James, Logan Sparks

More info: IMDb


Plot: An impressionistic portrait of the iconic actor comprised of intimate moments, film clips from some of his 250 films and his own heart-breaking renditions of American folk songs. Stunningly lensed in color and b/w by Seamus McGarvey, the film explores the actor's enigmatic outlook on his life, his unexploited talents as a musician, and includes candid scenes with David Lynch, Wim Wenders, Sam Shepard, Kris Kristofferson and Debbie Harry. The fragile soul of an actor emerges from the poignant collage.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

What you get out of this is going to depend on what you're looking for.  You'll be disappointed if you want a retrospective on the actor's career.  If you want to hang out with the (90 years old in July) actor and hear his thoughts on this and that but never getting too far into them or providing much detail, then you'll enjoy it.  He sings a lot and it's great.  A few people stop by and reminisce with him but you don't really get much information out of it.  There are very few clips from films but a lot of photographs from his film work and his life.  You're not going to learn much but you can play fly on the wall at his house for an hour.  I'd still like to see a film retrospective of his work and hear the countless stories from the time that he lived with Jack Nicholson in the late 60s and all the wild adventures he got into.  This film gives you a few drops in the bottle of aged whiskey that is HDS.