Billy The Kid

Billy is a 15 year old teenager from a small-town in Maine, USA. In many respects Billy is an ordinary teenage American boy, he just seems to be more intense than other kid’s his same age – a kind of over-the-top Napoleon Dynamite, a kid who doesn't fit into the normative environment of the schoolyard.

Jennifer Venditti’s documentary does not offer any explanation of why this is so but rather is resolutely committed to showing his reality, warts-and-all. We find out that his mother had taken him to a child psychologist because of his violent temper outburst and that she was advised to have him institutionalized (advice which she vehemently rejected) but no diagnosis is ever given (this was explained via an end title in the original release of the film and for those interested, is revealed in the interview on the DVD release).

There is nothing remarkable here but what engages (or equally, disengages) is the observational candour with which Vendetti shows us Billy’s day-to-day behaviour with its excruciating naiveties, including his fumbling attempt to woo a girl with an eye disorder. Billy is quite the amateur philosopher and is never reluctant to espouse his ideas about his life and life in general. Many of them are clearly derived from the movies he avidly watches which in places makes one feel somewhat anxious particularly as he has an appetite for violent films but equally he expresses views of romantic tenderness and unusual intelligence. One can only wonder if Billy will receive a Michael Apted “7-up” treatment. He is a subject who deserves it.

DVD Extras: Billy & Mother watch Billy The Kid – a 20m behind-the-scenes featurette; Interview with the director; Director’s commentary

Available from: Umbrella Entertainment

 

Want something different?