Paul Williams: Still Alive

A 3W Films presentation from the Mambo Entertainment production. (Worldwide sales: WME Entertainment, La.) Produced by Jim Czarnecki, Stephen Kessler, Mike Wilkins, David Zieff. Executive producers, Robert Cohen, Lesa Lakin. Co-producer, Alicia Van Couvering. Directed, put together by Stephen Kessler.With: Paul Williams, Stephen Kessler, Mariana Williams, Chris Caswell.A fascinating factor happened to Stephen Kessler on his approach to finishing "Paul Williams: Still Alive," his affectionate portrait in the diminutive dynamo who loomed improbably large just like a pop-culture luminary through the seventies. After serendipitously trying to find his childhood idol, and beginning production which he clearly intended -- initially, no less than -- just like a melancholy ode with a faded star, Kessler wound up forging an unlikely friendship and, on the way, developing a stronger, much much deeper plus much more idiosyncratic documentary. Pic could click with baby senior citizens and Gen-Xers in a number of formats, but nostalgia will probably be only part of its appeal. For the benefit of people who up-to-date in the finish of: With the '70s, Paul Williams acquired fame and fortune just like a prodigiously prolific songwriter, penning enduringly popular standards for instance "Wet Days and Mondays," "We now have Only Begun," "I won't Keep going for a Day Without you" and "Only a classic-Fashioned Love Song" for that type of Three Dog Evening, the Craftsmen, Helen Reddy and, no kidding, David Bowie. He written for movies (producing Oscars for "Evergreen," co-written with Barbra Streisand for "A Star makes the worldInch and "The Rainbow Connection" for "The Muppet Movie"), had success just like a solo recording artist, and came wide exposure just like a film and TV actor. Kessler covers all of this plus much more in "Paul Williams: Still Alive," and duly notes that, like every lots of '70s stars, Williams spent many of the eighties and 1990's in the spotlight while recouping in the personal and professional meltdown fueled by booze and medications. A TV-commercial director whose feature credits include "Vegas Vacation" and "The Independent," Kessler immediately cops to like a longtime fan of his subject. He unveils that, just like a chubby kid maturing in Queens, N.Y., he felt a distinctive affinity while using borderline-elfin Williams and deeply empathized while using songwriter's works about loneliness and longing. When he fortunately discovers that Williams continues to be alive and undertaking, Kessler has mixed feelings: He's glad to find out his idol managed to get his crash-and-burn excess, but just a little sad to look for the first kind celebrity now playing gigs in hotel lounges and lesser Vegas venues. Williams, however, doesn't notice as sad whatsoever. There's an amazing dynamic at play throughout "Still Alive," as Williams -- sometimes nicely, sometimes sternly -- frequently won't fulfill Kessler's anticipation, and progressively prods the filmmaker into developing a movie far unique of the primary one he set to create. In the beginning, Williams convinces Kessler being an onscreen participant, proclaiming that it may be difficult, otherwise silly, for him to create believe you be unaware from you following him. Later, when Kessler quizzes Williams in regards to the low points of his '70s superstardom, Williams bristles within the critique implicit in Kessler's queries. "I appear like this is often a search that we haven't felt within you before," Williams button button snaps. "Which I can not stay at home.Inch It's greatly to Kessler's credit, also to his film's benefit, he's incorporated this together with other moments that illustrate him as trying too much to correct his subject in a few preconceived scenario, and Williams as without effort battling facile labeling. The Two males don't really begin to bond until they share a six-hour bus ride using a possibly terrorist-filled jungle throughout Williams' tour in the Philippines. Nevertheless the give-and-take between subject and filmmaker always might be the pic's primary focus. Williams readily confesses to frequently like a drug-addled show-off throughout his '70s heyday -- inside the pic's uncomfortable sequences, he's noticeably pained while he unwillingly watches video of his spoiled-child arrogance while guest-hosting "The Merv Griffin Show" -- which he could not make any excuses to make the first and foremost from the perks that incorporated fame. "Being different is difficult,In . according to him. "Being special is addicting." As Kessler themselves observes, there's a tension created throughout "Paul Williams: Still Alive" by opposite perspectives: Because the director is searching in a existence to produce a documentary, Williams -- who's living that existence -- is searching forward. Nevertheless the combination of people viewpoints produces an engrossing and satisfying pic, one that'll be loved even by individuals who've no time before learned about its subject. Tech values are acceptable.Camera (color, HD), Vern Nobles editor, David Zieff co-editor, Jonathan Del Gatto production designer, Perry Andelin Blake appear, Marcos Contreras. Examined at Toronto Film Festival (Real to Reel), Sept. 10, 2011. Running time: 84 MIN. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com