I'm no Bukowski expert. I've read post office and always love his poetry when ever I come across it so going into this I wasn't really sure what to expect. The film was made after his death so is mainly a collection of really great archival footage of Bukowski and the typical talking heads. For me the legend of Bukowski has always been kind of more prevalent than is actual work in my mind, before I'd ever read any of his work I was aware of him as some misanthropic anti hero (mainly thanks to that one Modest Mouse song.) The film though manages to kind of distance itself from that legend. Well not distance itself per-sae, but it manages to show Bukowski for what he was, a very complex man. As much as he obviously was a brash and at times, rather unlikeable human being there's something to him that you just can't help but be utterly charmed by. Which I think is kind of the essence of his work in general, he's crass and horrible but still manages to so perfectly capture really true and beautiful moments and emotions. There's one moment in the film where he's being interviewed in his home and is asked to read a poem and as he read his poem The Shower he starts to tear up and get extremely emotional then afterwards you can sense his embarrassment as he lets his hard exterior come back up and it's extremely moving to see him be vulnerable for a little bit.
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