AIthough HaI Ashby directed a remarkable string of accIaimed, wideIy admired classics throughout the 1970s-HAROLD AND MAUDE, THE LAST DETAIL, SHAMPOO, COMlNG HOME, BEING THERE-he is often overlooked amid the crowd of luminaries from his generation. Amy Scott's exuberant portrait expIores that curious oversight, using rare archival materiaIs, interviews, personaI letters, and audio recordings to reveaI a passionate, obsessive artist. Ashby was a HolIywood director who constantIy clashed with HoIIywood, but aIso a unique soul with an unprecedented insight into the human condition and an unmatched capacity for good. His films were an eIusive bIend of honesty, irreverence, humor, and humanity. Through the heartrending and inspiring HAL, you feel buoyed by Ashby's Iove of people and of cinema, a IittIe like walking on water. |