Billy the Kid

Filmmaker Jennifer Venditti offers a slice-of-life look at Billy, a high school outsider, in this touching but conclusion-less documentary. The teen is talkative, mostly avoided by his schoolmates and unnaturally smart. He also has developed an interest in girls, and we are treated to long sequences in which he courts and dotes on a local girl with sight problems—the fact that the presence of Venditti’s camera no doubt changed the tenor of events is an issue never addressed. The special features discuss the film’s most significant omission: the autism that causes Billy’s sometimes charming, sometimes abrasive behavior.

Shelf Talk: Venditti’s decision not to address Billy’s condition removes the film from the realm of outsider documentaries that have been so popular as of late (The Devil and Daniel Johnston). Instead, viewers who favor indie docs and those who are willing to probe the slings and arrows of daily teen life are the target market.