cineSOURCE magazine

Overlooked & Underrated Docs & Features (click on broll or dschwartz for all his posts)

Vincent: A Life in Color
Vince has just a few moves. He turns around 360 degrees, he waves, he pulls his unbuttoned jacket off giving it its own 360 degree ride, he puts it back on, and strikes a pose like a magician who just completed an amazing trick. On a bridge, over the Chicago River, in the warm months, with white clouds dappling a blue sky, Vince is performing these moves for anyone within eyesight to see—but, primarily for the tourists on river tours of downtown. His show goes into hibernation in the cold months.

Vince is a living projective technique—like the inkblots some professionals use when they ask you to say what you see in them. What you see reveals who you are to the professional—especially aspects of yourself about which you may not be happy. What we see in Vince says more about us than him. But unlike the black inkblots on white paper, Vince sports vividly colored suits which he varies them from day-to-day.

Vince finds other ways to let the world know he is, that he exists. He regularly visits picture windows protecting television and radio studios. Those working there have virtually no choice but to incorporate him into their broadcasts of the fabric of Chicago’s life. Print journalists, too, must cover the phenomenon that is Vincent P. Falk. All this public performing and media coverage can only lead to one thing: An Affectionate Documentary.

And that’s just what producer/director Jennifer Burns, editor Christine Gilliland, and director of photography Patrick Russo have done. “Vincent: A Life in Color” covers the many worlds of Vince, as well as his life’s story. What you see is, like I wrote above, what you get. Your perceptions and beliefs, dark or light, are found in your vision of the picture painted by our three intrepid filmmakers. I will, however, make one editorial. This film looked like it was a lot of fun to make.
D. Schwartz January 1, 2011