Billy, The Kid from Maine

"A good piece of entertainment is always hard to come by in high school."
- Billy the Kid

I just came from seeing one of the best films - regardless of genre - I've seen in years: Jennifer Venditti's feature-length documentary, Billy the Kid. It was Jennifer's first film, as well as Billy's, but both were made for it, I think. It's simply about a brief period of time (8 days, actually) in this teenage kid's life, Billy K. He's a little "off" in traditional terms, but a feast for the eyes and ears to anyone who'll watch or listen. First, because Billy and I grew up in the same area of rural Maine and went to the same high school, I thought I was pre-conditioned to like this film. But Venditti, as an outsider with a camera, could've gone in so many directions with it, including (worst case scenario) presenting Billy, her amazing subject, as a freak. Thankfully, she didn't. I loved it because she portrayed him honestly, but treated him with complete and total respect. These are two things that movies rarely do with subjects - real or fictionalized - from the lonely state of Maine. Typically, these depictions are tragic reports of incest and poverty or candy-coated tales of stoic, church-goin' folk living in quaint fishing villages called Pine Cone Harbor or Crabapple Cove. (And they never get that Downeast accent right! We're not British! Dang!! ) BTK is more accurate: neither Stephen King nor Frontline. When in pursuit of a girl, Billy's mom tells him, "Just be yourself, don't try so hard." That's what this film does. It's just great verite filmmaking - a brutal and tender and unpretentious doc about a very ordinary, but surprisingly unique kid who likes KISS and happens to live in a trailer park in Maine. If you're not hooked by the time he asks said girl to be his girlfriend, check your pulse... you may not be alive.