I was lucky enough to see American: The Bill Hicks Story a week or two ago - I still have the review to complete and post, and it will hopefully be live before the American première at SXSW – suffice to say it's a wonderful film that does a wonderful job of presenting Bill Hicks and what he stood for.

I really enjoyed the film, and it's not only uniquely put together, but it's very touching and wonderfully incisive about everything from the man himself to the biggest questions of life, just like his comedy. You must see the film so that you can see what America was missing when he was alive, and what we are all missing since he died some sixteen years ago.

Bill Hicks was a comedy genius, but more than that he was a philosopher and political commentator, and he combined all these with ease.

American: The Bill Hicks Story is a documentary that interviews ten of the most important people in the man's life, ten people who were closest to him, and using a photo-animated style, delivers a fantastic insight into the man and his beliefs.

Not only did I love the style of the film, but also how honest and open it is. It captures everything about Hicks, including the lows, and through footage, interviews and the photo-animated style, makes you realise we've lost one of the greatest comedians and political voices that American never had.

The film should be seen, I will be adding it to the Filmstalker Recommends list, and to give you a little taster of what the film is about, here's a new trailer through Empire:

I'll let you know when the review is live, it should be before Friday. In the meantime, if you have a chance to catch the film at SXSW, do, I urge you, and after that too. Go find out what we missed of Bill Hicks.