SXSW documentary on the life of WilliamShatner proves to be a meditation on death from the liveliest man you'll see.
What it really becomes is a performance piece by Shatner, one at least on nodding terms with Spalding Gray's era-and genre-defining. But it would not be becoming of Shatner to merely hold the stage, as he does in footage from one-man shows and concerts. Instead, he looks past the camera to Philippe, answering often unheard questions that form the structure of five chapters, each named after a song on his last album,Yes, album: he's a true polymath, never stationary.
. There's an earnestness, an openness from a celebrity who is deeply aware that their fame cannot save them. In Fox's case, from his early onset Parkinson's Disease: for Shatner, the simple fact that being 90 is a risky enterprise. And yet both men are still trying to cram in as much living as they possibly can. Not so much raging against the dying of the light, as always grasping at that last divine glow.
Philippe catches the sheer energy of being around Shatner: having personally interviewed him a few times, and moderated Q&As with him, I can testify that the only wisdom I can share is"hang on for dear life, and just wait for that wicked sense of humor.
And self-reflection is here in unexpected ways. Shatner has clearly considered himself - his weaknesses, his foibles, his failures - and come to peace with most of it. When he does second-guess himself, it's in the most unexpected but somehow most sensible of places, especially when it comes to line deliveries . Yet this isn't a film of regret.
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