William Eggleston in the Real World (2005)

89% of critics liked it
(18 reviews)
58% of users liked it
(462 ratings)

Photographer William Eggleston created a sensation in the art world in 1976 when a collection of his work went on display at the Museum of Modern Art. While the Memphis native's work went against the grain of the conventions of art photography of the day with their heavily saturated colors and… More Photographer William Eggleston created a sensation in the art world in 1976 when a collection of his work went on display at the Museum of Modern Art. While the Memphis native's work went against the grain of the conventions of art photography of the day with their heavily saturated colors and oblique, seemingly careless framings, in time critics developed an enthusiasm for his work, and one critic cited the show as "the beginning of modern color photography." Filmmaker Michael Almereyda is an admirer of Eggleston's photography, and created a film portrait of this reclusive artist as he shoots a commissioned assignment in Kentucky, travels to Los Angeles for a show, conducts a joint question and answer session with author Bruce Wagner, and explores the nooks and crannies of the small Tennessee towns that provide his inspiration. Along the way, Almereyda attempts to interview Eggleston and comes up against the brick wall of the photographer's reluctance to discuss his art -- as Eggleston says, "Whatever it is about pictures, photographs, it's just about impossible to follow up with words. They don't have anything to do with one another." ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 26 min.
Directed By: Michael Almereyda
Genres: Documentary, Musical & Performing Arts, Special Interest

In Theaters: Aug 31, 2005 Wide
On DVD: Feb 14, 2006
Studio: Palm Pictures

Critic Reviews

Mark Feeney, Boston Globe
William Eggleston in the Real World offers an admiring and affectionate, if also unillusioned, view of its subject at work, play, and not much of anything (a suitably Egglestonian activity).
Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
The result isn't particularly mesmerizing, but it does offer a well-rounded portrait that will be of particular interest to photography lovers.
Jami Bernard, New York Daily News
Eggleston's rigor might be mistaken for languor, but Almereyda has just the temperament to get it right.
Ronnie Scheib, Variety
Ultimately, biodoc is less about Eggleston living in the 'real world' than about Almereyda filming there.
Jan Stuart, Newsday
Consistently more intriguing than Almereyda's recent documentary of a Sam Shepard play rehearsal (This So-Called Disaster), in part due to the subject's taciturn nature and his disinterest in the hows and the wherefores of his craft.
Ned Martel, New York Times
In this sublimely bleak documentary, the photographer William Eggleston allows the video camera to follow him on a shoot in Mayfield, Ky.
Brian Gibson, Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)
There is a sense of impromptu genius, of exactitude colliding with suddenness as the seemingly banal is rendered, for a moment, vividly permanent. Eggleston's photos force the viewer to behold the beauty of the commonplace.
Dan Lybarger, Nitrate Online
Watching "William Eggleston in the Real World" is frustrating but intriguing.
Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Eggleston is obviously wired a little different than most of us, like all real artists, he sees things most of us don't...
Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly
An uncannily revealing portrait of a major American artist at work, all the more remarkable for the deceptive casualness with which it unfolds, as if Almereyda had just shown up.
Matt McNally, BBC
As a subject, he's reluctant to navel gaze, and his words -- subtitled because of his low, mumbling speech -- rarely provide an insight into his talent.
John Beifuss, Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
At times, the cinema verite style suggests the 'psychic disarray, intimately observed' (Almereyda's words) of Eggleston's own 1970s video project, 'Stranded in Canton'...
David Noh, Film Journal International
An absorbing depiction of the artist.
Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Without slavishly imitating the photographer's distinctive style, Almereyda also manages to connect his own images to all that's 'Egglestonian' in the photographer's world.
Jeremiah Kipp, Slant Magazine
What Almereyda sees in Eggleston's work are the things that seem to drive Almereyda's films: life as a continual paradox.

Read all 15 critic reviews

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