There is a family motto at everydayyeah.com or at least there is one from this day forward. When someone related to a member of the staff is in a movie that movie gets reviewed. More specifically, their role in the movie will be reviewed.

This weekend I saw Billy the Kid, a documentary that takes a touching look at growing up with a unique voice. The movie’s main focus is a fifteen-year-old child named Billy, but I’m proud to say my Uncle Bob has a small role in the film. Well, at least I think it was my Uncle Bob. He was only caught on camera for two seconds so I’m not positive it was him. The scene was set in a diner and the person who may or may not have been my uncle could be seen in the background sitting on one of the stools at the counter. He has never been an emotional man and his role in this film was no different. It is kind of a shame that he isn’t able to branch out and develop a true character of his own. For all these years he’s been playing the same hardworking German woodsman and has never bothered to drift from these roots. You can’t help but feel a little sorry for him while watching from a distance, but if you get to know him you realize he’s lived a good life and has had to deal with few of the stresses that can suffocate an average person’s life. With that said, I am a little disappointed he didn’t present himself a little better on screen. He was wearing a white undershirt and a pair of blue workpants that looked like they may have been dirty, though he had probably just come out of the woods. It wasn’t obvious what he was eating because his body blocked the plate, but it couldn’t have been good for him considering the shots of the kitchen revealed an eating establishment not anything above average greasy burger joint.

Considering all of this I can’t give my uncle anything better than a 5.5 (out of ten) for his work in this film. I know he’s my family and I love him, but his character neither made this movie better nor worse. I really should have given him an even 5, but I gave him a half point bump because of our relation.

This movie was special for me in a lot of ways. Not only because Uncle Bob, but because I knew just about every location that was caught on film. I want to offer my regards to Billy himself and hope that he doesn’t take it as a slight if I speak more about the town of Lisbon, where the film was shot, than him. I just feel that I’m not going to say it any better than this: “his slightly off-kilter inflections and speech reflexes sit side by side precariously with his highly articulate conversation, manner, and teenaged wisdom.”

I went to kindergarten in Lisbon and spent the rest of formative schooling across the river in the town where Billy’s grandmother lives, Durham. My father grew up Lisbon. He first met my mom in the same hallways Billy walks through now. My grandparents still live there. And of course, my Uncle Bob seems to like to eat at the same restaurant as movie stars. I remember when the teen center where Billy watches some classmates play pool was a post office.

The most enjoyable part about knowing of Lisbon though was a mere coincidence. When watching the trailer of Billy the Kid, the following shot overpowered me with déjà vu.

After a few seconds thought I realized I not only knew the spot, but had photographed the spot a few years before.

Don’t get me wrong, I would have like Billy the Kid regardless of whether I knew the town of Lisbon, but knowing this little town made the movie that much more special.

review by Mark Baumer