写真比尔 / Still Bill (2009)

　　2009美国纪录片音乐《写真比尔》由Damani Baker导演，Bill Withers主演，影片讲述的是：
Bill Withers songs run through our memories Aint No Sunshine Lean on Me Use Me Grandmas Hands Learning there was a new documentary about him I wondered how long ago he died The answer is he still lives and survives as a happy man Still Bill is about a man who topped the charts walked away from it all in 1985 and is pleased that he did
He didnt burn out He hasnt burned out He was free of the demons of drink and drugs He is still happily married to his first and only wife His grown kids still live at home Kori who would like to follow her dad into music and Todd who is a law student Marcia his wife has her MBA from UCLA and has manifestly looked after their finances as we can guess after a look around their rambling hilltop home in a highpriced area of Los Angeles
Bill is 71 He was born in the middle of the segregated South in the mining hamlet of Slab Fork WVa Did that experience leave scars Not deep ones apparently On a homecoming trip for a class reunion he walks the little town with a childhood friend now the mayor and they recall skinnydipping in the creek and walking to school Yes they had to go to the back door of the grocery store to get an ice cream cone He seems to remember the ice cream better than the back door And he remembers his grandmother sitting on the front porch and singing
Bill Withers was scarred however He had a serious stutter until he was 20 We dont learn why it went away Maybe music helped The most emotional scenes in Still Bill show him accepting an award from a stutterers association and then talking with a roomful of kids who stutter His advice is calm He identifies with them he observes that stuttering can make other people nervous he says we have to go just that little bit further to help them feel at ease
He wipes away some tears in his eyes and we suspect they have been unshed since childhood Later he recalls being taunted to spit it out as if stuttering were his decision He says he decided while young to make the most of his opportunities and did He studied joined the Navy didnt own a guitar until 1970 and achieved his first hit record Aint No Sunshine in 1971
Withers wasnt part of mainstream soul music He used a few instruments guitar bass drums piano and no driving beat He depended on his pure baritone and his lyrics Listen again to Aint No Sunshine and you realize it is a rarity a hit song that is essentially just a man singing
Later he shudders in recalling a recording executive who wanted him to do his own cover version of Elvis Presleys In the Ghetto
Why did he quit It was time to quit he says whatever that means He didnt feel the need to tour year after year keeping himself in peoples minds On the way to wonderful he says youll pass through all right Stop and take a look around because thats where you may be staying Its obvious hes happily married Hes close to his kids and the only other time there are tears in the movie is when he and his daughter listen to a song shes recorded His house is noticeably spacious and clutterfree and so is his life
Perhaps in an attempt to slip some meaning into the film the documentarians Damani Baker and Alex Vlack arrange a conversation with the scholar Cornel West and Tavis Smiley from PBS It feels like theyre trying to lead Bill into heavy generalizations but he wont go there Withers seems as close to everyday Zen as I can imagine He talks a great deal about his philosophy to be sure but its direct and manifestly true Make the most of your chances do the best you can stop when youre finished love your family enjoy life
At 70 he sings once in the film at a tribute to him in Brooklyn And in his home recording studio he and guitarist and songwriter Raul Midon collaborate on a song in Spanish which I liked He still has the voice the chops and the presence But he doesnt feel a need to spend days and weeks away from home proving that His music endures Im like pennies in your pocket he says You know theyre there but you dont think about them