Everyone who’s on the internet has heard of the Billy Murray stories, like the time he did the dishes at a house party, the time he rode a golf cart alone, or the time he stole a fry from a random stranger. These stories are numerous and sometimes seem hard to believe, which is why filmmaker Tommy Avallone went looking for the truth.
In this documentary, Avallone tracks down people who have posted and told Bill Murray stories for the world to see and gets them to retell their tales so that he can see if they are all true. All the ones he manages to track down have photos and videos of the events, thus proving that the stories are true. What is more important here than the stories is the why. Why do they matter to these people and why does the man, Bill Murray, do these things. What does it bring to his life, to the people’s life that he interacts with in these stories. The way Avallone explores these stories and the people affected by them and on the way he discovers some truths about life and maybe even himself.
The film gathers a bunch of people for interviews and most of them, if not all of them, are complete unknowns besides their internet fame for their Bill Murray stories. To name a few, participants include John Barnhardt, Peter Farrelly, and Ryan Petrillo. There are also a few actors showing some of the stories in reenactment with a bit of flare added for interest. These people, actors and those having lived it, tell the stories with passion and a real interest in sharing the fun moments had with the legend.
The directed by Tommy Avallone and co-written by Avallone and Max Paolucci, the images are brought to the screen by director of photography Derrick Kunzer who shows the stories recreated and the interviews with a good, approachable style. It makes it much easier to watch the film and connect with the people involved. The editing by Tommy Avallone brings these together with archival footage and photos to create a more completely storytelling together. The photos and videos serve as both proof of the stories and a great way to ground the film even more into reality.
The Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons Learned from a Mythical Man is great fun and shows how one man can impact many people by just being a great human who shows care and gives to people these little moments of happiness and unexpected surprises that cause them to be happy, may it be for a few moments that become longer as they share the good. This film allows them to share the good with much more people and gives them a platform to celebrate Bill Murray as the human, not just the actor or the celebrity, but the person that helps people learn to enjoy the smaller, simpler things in life.
Cinepocalypse 2018 runs from June 21st until June 28th, 2018.