There's actually a Sam Fuller retrospective at the french Cinémathèque in Paris, and the real surprise was this documentary shot by his daughter Samantha on her father, based on his writings (autobiography "A Third Face") read by great friends like Joe Dante, William Friedkin, the huge Bill Duke with his possessed performance, James Toback, James Franco, Monte Hellman, Tim Roth, Constance Towers (remember the beginning of 'The Naked Kiss") and others. "A Fuller Life" was shot in Sam's "shack", the room where he worked on his typewriting and had all his souvenirs (journalist time, war, movies), scripts (shot or not) and personal objects. Samantha directed all these friends reading Sam's writings in this fabulous "shack", some having Sam's object. The funniest being Wim Wenders smoking an old cigar Sam left in the ashtray, the cigar was so dry WW got quite stoned. I just loved the very first sequence, the most direct connection from Samantha to Sam, bravo again.
I ended 2017 seeing at the same Cinémathèque the documentary "Max par Marcel", the famous Ophüls son speaking of his father Max with nice witnesses. I started 2018 with this Sam by Sam. So great documentaries.
Review of A Fuller Life
