00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:22.000
(acoustic guitar strumming)

00:00:35.360 --> 00:00:36.400
(urban percussive
rhythmic music)

00:00:48.160 --> 00:00:48.999
- When I was five years old,

00:00:53.320 --> 00:00:55.160
I wanted to be a boxer,

00:00:55.320 --> 00:00:56.640
I wanted to play the drums

00:00:56.800 --> 00:00:58.000
and I wanted a monkey.

00:00:58.160 --> 00:00:59.440
So that should tell
you about me, okay?

00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:01.000
And wrestlers, when I look
at a wrestling magazine,

00:01:01.160 --> 00:01:03.200
I always like the most
extreme-looking wrestler.

00:01:03.360 --> 00:01:05.640
So, to me, (coughs)

00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:07.760
I'm not interested in
the average person.

00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:09.640
My father was a gangster type.

00:01:09.800 --> 00:01:11.160
My mother was another case.

00:01:11.320 --> 00:01:13.360
So, I mean, I've
always been surrounded

00:01:13.520 --> 00:01:15.080
by people that aren't the norm.

00:01:15.240 --> 00:01:16.999
(whooshing)

00:01:18.200 --> 00:01:20.160
To me,

00:01:23.320 --> 00:01:24.520
I find the people who I
photograph interesting.

00:01:24.680 --> 00:01:27.600
I find them sort
of like my friends.

00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:30.040
I find them beautiful.

00:01:30.200 --> 00:01:31.720
(intercom voice mumbles)

00:01:33.999 --> 00:01:36.240
- I'm Bruce Gilden.

00:01:37.999 --> 00:01:39.400
(gentle piano and rock music)

00:01:56.999 --> 00:01:57.640
(bass piano melody)

00:02:02.040 --> 00:02:03.920
(rustling)

00:02:07.360 --> 00:02:08.920
- [Voiceover] The
street as a vocation,

00:02:12.520 --> 00:02:13.760
as a moment of discovery,

00:02:13.920 --> 00:02:15.120
as an impact with reality

00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:16.720
and with the world
in continuous flux.

00:02:17.240 --> 00:02:18.999
Bruce Gilden, a
kid from Brooklyn,

00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:24.360
raised among
stories of gangsters

00:02:24.520 --> 00:02:26.280
and life in the outskirts,

00:02:26.440 --> 00:02:27.800
is the photographer who
seizes infinite combinations,

00:02:27.960 --> 00:02:30.000
both human and social.

00:02:30.160 --> 00:02:31.999
Individuals to
follow, to intersect

00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:35.720
and to enthrall with his flash,

00:02:35.880 --> 00:02:37.520
stealing their souls.

00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:40.600
In each photo emerges the
pretension to exceed appearances

00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:47.800
and bear the authenticity of
the lives that meet his gaze.

00:02:49.440 --> 00:02:51.560
- Well I have a, usually,

00:02:54.600 --> 00:02:56.000
well for my candid shots,

00:02:56.160 --> 00:02:57.400
it's always been a
Leica, since 1977.

00:02:57.560 --> 00:03:00.480
Film camera.

00:03:00.640 --> 00:03:01.760
And I have a flash on the cord

00:03:01.920 --> 00:03:03.360
in my left hand.
(inquisitive strumming)

00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:05.200
So, and then,

00:03:06.280 --> 00:03:07.720
I was a good athlete,

00:03:07.880 --> 00:03:08.840
so as you get
older, it's harder.

00:03:08.999 --> 00:03:10.880
You have to learn, you
have to be sensitive

00:03:10.999 --> 00:03:12.840
to the people
you're photographing

00:03:12.999 --> 00:03:14.360
because you're
gonna have to know

00:03:14.520 --> 00:03:15.999
what move they're gonna do next.

00:03:17.480 --> 00:03:18.520
Sometimes I'm most
like a border collie

00:03:22.640 --> 00:03:26.360
with the cows.

00:03:26.520 --> 00:03:27.600
You know, you herd the cows.

00:03:27.760 --> 00:03:29.520
So, sometimes I
try to make people,

00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:32.640
without touching them,

00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:34.680
walk in a certain way,

00:03:34.840 --> 00:03:35.880
so I know where
they're gonna be,

00:03:35.999 --> 00:03:36.999
so I can go get their picture.

00:03:37.080 --> 00:03:39.440
And the closer you are,

00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:43.120
I think the more emotional
pictures have a tendency to be.

00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:45.960
And I'm not talking
about the situation

00:03:45.999 --> 00:03:47.840
of a starving child crying

00:03:47.999 --> 00:03:49.975
or something like that.

00:03:49.999 --> 00:03:51.280
That's not a very good picture.

00:03:51.440 --> 00:03:52.760
I mean, it may break your heart,

00:03:53.880 --> 00:03:55.320
but it's a little
bit of a cliche.

00:03:55.480 --> 00:03:57.400
So, I don't love cliches.

00:03:57.560 --> 00:03:59.160
(solemn abstract music)

00:04:01.200 --> 00:04:06.000
- [Voiceover] A magnum
photographer since 1998,

00:04:06.160 --> 00:04:09.000
Bruce Gilden knows
how to cast a glance

00:04:09.160 --> 00:04:10.880
into hidden environments,

00:04:10.999 --> 00:04:12.640
into the underground
that he knows so well.

00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:14.999
His photo features of
the Yakuza done in Japan

00:04:18.840 --> 00:04:20.975
show a dark side of
the Eastern Mafia,

00:04:20.999 --> 00:04:23.440
with its essence, it's laws

00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:24.960
and its implications.

00:04:24.999 --> 00:04:26.920
But above all, they
underscore his ability

00:04:26.999 --> 00:04:28.975
to record the social
nuances of organized crime

00:04:28.999 --> 00:04:31.080
with his camera as none
other has been able to.

00:04:31.280 --> 00:04:34.160
- I grew up with that.

00:04:36.440 --> 00:04:37.320
I mean, my father used to wear

00:04:37.480 --> 00:04:38.975
hats, thick gray hair,

00:04:38.999 --> 00:04:41.999
pinky rings, you know,

00:04:42.080 --> 00:04:43.920
a big cigar.

00:04:43.999 --> 00:04:45.120
I mean, come on!

00:04:46.200 --> 00:04:47.000
Where did I get it?

00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:47.960
I got it from there.

00:04:47.999 --> 00:04:49.200
And I've always been
fascinated by that.

00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:52.999
I mean when I was a child,

00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:54.040
my father was everything to me.

00:04:54.200 --> 00:04:55.975
I idolized him.

00:04:55.999 --> 00:04:57.040
He was George Washington.

00:04:57.200 --> 00:04:58.480
He was the firemen.

00:04:58.640 --> 00:04:59.440
He was everything.

00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:00.800
So,

00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:02.920
I guess it must have
come from there.

00:05:04.080 --> 00:05:06.999
(thrilling music)

00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:09.999
I'm not good at
finding the people.

00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:11.320
I'm good once I'm in.

00:05:11.480 --> 00:05:12.840
They like me and I like them.

00:05:12.999 --> 00:05:14.120
I don't ask too many questions,

00:05:14.280 --> 00:05:15.480
but I also stand up for myself.

00:05:15.640 --> 00:05:17.320
And I plan to do a book on that.

00:05:18.760 --> 00:05:20.480
Mafia

00:05:23.200 --> 00:05:24.200
or Bad Tough Guys

00:05:24.360 --> 00:05:26.240
would be the title.

00:05:28.040 --> 00:05:29.080
I know how far to push it.

00:05:29.240 --> 00:05:31.720
And I don't inquire,

00:05:31.880 --> 00:05:32.760
I don't wanna be around

00:05:32.920 --> 00:05:34.640
and I don't wanna know.

00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:36.520
I'm not curious that way.

00:05:36.680 --> 00:05:37.999
(urban country-rock
music twangs)

00:05:39.999 --> 00:05:42.560
♪ Everybody knows me ♪

00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:45.160
- [Voiceover] The street
is not only the place

00:05:46.640 --> 00:05:47.960
where he grew up.

00:05:47.999 --> 00:05:49.200
It is also the school
where he learned his craft.

00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:52.840
The street offers
him his subjects,

00:05:52.999 --> 00:05:54.400
never commonplace types.

00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:56.160
♪ She's walked across the city ♪

00:05:58.440 --> 00:06:01.000
(digital beeping glissandos)

00:06:01.160 --> 00:06:02.360
- [Voiceover] Distinctive
trades stand out

00:06:02.520 --> 00:06:03.200
on each of his photos

00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:04.640
in faces, habits and gestures,

00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:06.720
an extremely up-close
glimpse which captures

00:06:06.880 --> 00:06:08.720
the essence of urban life.

00:06:12.120 --> 00:06:13.080
But Gilden's
pictures also narrate

00:06:17.280 --> 00:06:18.999
rare, impenetrable stories

00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:20.999
often ignored by many.

00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:23.200
Each individual image has its
story in its completeness.

00:06:29.640 --> 00:06:30.600
- I guess the
street was my home.

00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:36.120
I think we had a
second-story apartment

00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:39.360
until I was eight
in Williamsburg.

00:06:39.520 --> 00:06:42.080
And I used to look out the
window at the street life below.

00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:45.720
Life was lived on the street.
(inquisitive string music)

00:06:45.880 --> 00:06:46.975
People would sit out in
front of their house,

00:06:46.999 --> 00:06:48.480
their apartment building.

00:06:48.640 --> 00:06:49.999
So the street was really
where I wanted to be.

00:06:50.080 --> 00:06:52.999
I don't think I had the typical

00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:55.280
entree into photography
that most people have.

00:06:56.440 --> 00:06:59.999
And I'm very streetwise.

00:07:00.080 --> 00:07:03.680
My life is the street.

00:07:03.840 --> 00:07:05.800
What happened was

00:07:06.920 --> 00:07:08.040
when I was 18 and the
Antonioni movie came out,

00:07:08.200 --> 00:07:11.040
Blow Up,

00:07:11.200 --> 00:07:12.360
I thought the movie
was quite mediocre.

00:07:12.520 --> 00:07:15.040
I'm not a big Antonioni fan.
(soft cello music)

00:07:15.200 --> 00:07:17.040
What happened though was

00:07:17.200 --> 00:07:18.520
photography was trendy then.

00:07:19.800 --> 00:07:21.400
It was everywhere.

00:07:21.560 --> 00:07:22.720
People started to take
photographic classes.

00:07:22.880 --> 00:07:24.520
It made it in the eye
of the public, okay?

00:07:24.680 --> 00:07:28.560
And that's what struck me.

00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:30.040
I have certain
thoughts about life.

00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:32.640
I have certain
thoughts about society.

00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:34.200
Society isn't perfect.

00:07:34.360 --> 00:07:35.999
People are starving.

00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:37.080
Rich people are getting richer.

00:07:37.240 --> 00:07:38.160
The poor are getting poorer.

00:07:38.320 --> 00:07:39.880
People are selfish.

00:07:40.999 --> 00:07:43.240
I mean, there's all different
categories of selfishness.

00:07:43.400 --> 00:07:45.960
I wouldn't use
the word critical,

00:07:45.999 --> 00:07:48.640
and I wouldn't use
the word sarcastic.

00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:50.975
I mean, you can find a lot of
humor in my photographs also.

00:07:50.999 --> 00:07:53.999
And they're well-formed
and they're elegant.

00:07:54.080 --> 00:07:56.200
And somebody had a good
statement to me once.

00:07:56.360 --> 00:07:59.520
They said, (laughs) they said

00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:01.975
that when I photograph fashion,

00:08:01.999 --> 00:08:03.640
I make the girls more beautiful,

00:08:03.800 --> 00:08:05.440
and on the street, I
make make the people,

00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:07.320
you know, less...

00:08:07.480 --> 00:08:09.120
beautiful, okay?

00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:11.440
But that's not my intent.

00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:13.000
My intent is to
photograph things

00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:16.120
that, if they're not
placed in front of you,

00:08:16.280 --> 00:08:18.999
you wouldn't see.

00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:20.560
(bluesy strumming)

00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:24.680
- [Voiceover] The recognizable
features of the Mafia

00:08:25.840 --> 00:08:27.520
are extremely evident in
Bruce Gilden's photos,

00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:30.280
as are the subjects
portrayed by the photographer

00:08:30.440 --> 00:08:33.320
belonging to the Yakuza world.

00:08:33.999 --> 00:08:35.720
But it's certainly not
the pinstriped suits,

00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:40.240
sunglasses and jewelry
making them stand out.

00:08:40.400 --> 00:08:42.999
The real uniform of the Yakuza,

00:08:43.999 --> 00:08:45.999
the Honorable Society
of the Rising Sun,

00:08:46.040 --> 00:08:48.040
is the skin.

00:08:48.200 --> 00:08:49.440
An inestimable turnover.

00:08:51.800 --> 00:08:53.320
The fruit of drug
trafficking, prostitution,

00:08:53.480 --> 00:08:55.080
gambling, and construction,
which extends its frontiers

00:08:55.240 --> 00:08:57.960
all the way to
the United States.

00:08:57.999 --> 00:08:59.999
- The Yakuza is
the Japanese mafia.

00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:03.760
And they have

00:09:03.920 --> 00:09:05.040
a thing where if you
do something wrong,

00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:09.760
they start to cut off the
joints of your fingers.

00:09:09.920 --> 00:09:11.999
Like one by one.

00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:13.080
You have one like
there, one like there,

00:09:13.240 --> 00:09:14.240
one like there,
and one like there.

00:09:14.400 --> 00:09:15.999
So, that really draws blood.

00:09:16.120 --> 00:09:18.880
You have all these tattoos
(intense music)

00:09:18.999 --> 00:09:20.560
that are symbolic
of different things.

00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:22.120
I don't know what
each one means.

00:09:22.280 --> 00:09:24.120
But I did photograph them.

00:09:24.280 --> 00:09:25.600
What I liked about them is

00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:28.440
how they look like

00:09:29.800 --> 00:09:31.120
they're influenced by
old gangster movies

00:09:32.400 --> 00:09:34.840
in their garish dress

00:09:34.999 --> 00:09:36.760
and how they look.

00:09:36.920 --> 00:09:37.960
'Cause a lot of
them are big guys.

00:09:37.999 --> 00:09:39.680
And they look like
they're Yakuza.

00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:41.680
But I'm sure that there's
plenty Yakuza top-level that

00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:44.240
run the biggest
businesses in Japan

00:09:44.400 --> 00:09:47.600
and they look like

00:09:47.760 --> 00:09:49.999
average people.

00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:51.840
So, I mean, that's the myth.

00:09:51.999 --> 00:09:53.840
But there are people
that do look like that.

00:09:53.999 --> 00:09:56.480
Me, it's all about visuals.

00:09:57.999 --> 00:09:59.280
I don't care, for
example, if you're

00:10:02.160 --> 00:10:05.040
the biggest Mafia,
the biggest anything.

00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:08.400
If I'm not interested
in photographing you,

00:10:08.560 --> 00:10:12.160
doesn't matter to me.

00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:13.400
I'm not gonna photograph you.

00:10:13.560 --> 00:10:14.880
There's a couple of
people, out of X amount,

00:10:14.999 --> 00:10:17.320
that I will photograph

00:10:17.480 --> 00:10:18.520
because they're
interesting visually.

00:10:18.680 --> 00:10:20.360
And my statement comes
from those people.

00:10:20.520 --> 00:10:23.560
(guitar strumming)

00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:25.000
(electronic skipping)

00:10:25.160 --> 00:10:25.999
(percussive rhythmic music)

00:10:26.040 --> 00:10:28.680
- [Voiceover] Bruce Gilden's
reportage on the Yakuza

00:10:28.840 --> 00:10:30.720
is certainly one of his
pieces of greatest impact.

00:10:30.999 --> 00:10:33.480
The photographer establishes
himself in that world

00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:38.200
by obtaining the
necessary trust.

00:10:38.360 --> 00:10:40.680
Stealing, but at the same time,

00:10:40.840 --> 00:10:42.200
showing himself to be
a conscious witness

00:10:42.360 --> 00:10:44.720
to attitudes,
habits and rituals,

00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:47.560
an original portrait
of rare incisiveness,

00:10:50.160 --> 00:10:52.000
which remains among the
few visible documents

00:10:52.160 --> 00:10:54.040
of a world in
continuous expansion.

00:10:54.200 --> 00:10:56.760
- You stand by your family.
(soft pensive music)

00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:01.240
You have to.

00:11:01.400 --> 00:11:02.720
There's a hierarchy.

00:11:02.880 --> 00:11:03.999
For example, in the
picture that you selected,

00:11:04.120 --> 00:11:06.999
those two guys work in Ginza.

00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:09.640
The guy lighting the cigarette

00:11:11.760 --> 00:11:13.240
is an underling
of the other guy.

00:11:13.400 --> 00:11:14.999
So that's why he
lights the cigarette.

00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:17.240
There's an order.

00:11:17.400 --> 00:11:19.240
You respect the ones
that are above you.

00:11:19.400 --> 00:11:22.560
And I don't know how high
they are on the ladder,

00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:26.080
but neither one of them
is low, I would say.

00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:28.640
Because they're in a good area.

00:11:28.800 --> 00:11:30.600
So that means they're
controlling some
monied interests.

00:11:30.760 --> 00:11:33.999
They dress very well.

00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:36.880
Expensive suits.

00:11:36.999 --> 00:11:38.440
And they look like they're
big boys, you know?

00:11:38.600 --> 00:11:40.800
The guy who was having
his cigarette lit,

00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:43.760
if I remember, it's
been many years,

00:11:45.280 --> 00:11:46.999
I'd say he's about 5'7", 5'8".

00:11:47.040 --> 00:11:49.000
A ex-boxer.

00:11:49.160 --> 00:11:50.400
And he's 5'7", 5'8", wide.

00:11:50.560 --> 00:11:53.080
He's imposing, I would say.

00:11:53.240 --> 00:11:55.999
And I'd say both of the
figures are imposing.

00:11:56.120 --> 00:11:59.800
And to be imposing,

00:11:59.960 --> 00:12:02.520
you don't have to be always
the biggest guy on the block.

00:12:02.680 --> 00:12:05.760
It's how you carry yourself.

00:12:05.920 --> 00:12:07.520
I had met a guy who was

00:12:08.880 --> 00:12:10.560
the partner of the guy who
was getting his cigarette lit.

00:12:12.040 --> 00:12:16.080
And he introduced me
to a couple of Yakuza.

00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:22.040
They took me, 'cause I had,

00:12:23.160 --> 00:12:24.920
I think I had taken
him to dinner.

00:12:24.999 --> 00:12:27.240
So he took me to dinner.

00:12:27.400 --> 00:12:30.320
And then he said,

00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:32.120
"Well, let's meet a couple of
my friends in a coffee shop."

00:12:32.280 --> 00:12:34.360
That was taken in a
coffee shop in Ginza.

00:12:34.520 --> 00:12:36.999
So, the guy lit the
cigarette (coughs)

00:12:37.040 --> 00:12:39.880
and I took a picture
with the flash.

00:12:39.999 --> 00:12:41.200
And I said, "Can you hold it?"

00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:43.800
So I took about five
or six pictures,

00:12:43.960 --> 00:12:46.160
and one of them
was that picture.

00:12:48.999 --> 00:12:49.840
(acoustic guitar strumming)

00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:58.975
Welcome to Coney Island!

00:12:58.999 --> 00:13:00.280
- [Man] Welcome, yeah.

00:13:00.440 --> 00:13:01.640
- There's nobody here.

00:13:01.800 --> 00:13:02.640
This is like the winter!

00:13:02.800 --> 00:13:04.040
Today's a terrible day.

00:13:07.160 --> 00:13:08.360
It's not like a summer day.

00:13:08.520 --> 00:13:09.880
It's more like
the winter almost.

00:13:09.999 --> 00:13:12.240
Though there are more people.

00:13:12.400 --> 00:13:14.120
Normally, in the
40s and the 50s,

00:13:14.280 --> 00:13:16.360
30s, 20s, this was packed!

00:13:17.760 --> 00:13:19.680
When WeeGee was here,

00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:20.680
Lisette Model,

00:13:20.840 --> 00:13:21.960
on the beach you
couldn't get a spot!

00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:27.720
At the turn of the century, a
lot of rich people came here.

00:13:31.400 --> 00:13:33.560
Then it became people,

00:13:33.720 --> 00:13:34.920
the most recent immigrants
would come here.

00:13:36.440 --> 00:13:38.240
And you didn't have
air conditioning,

00:13:38.400 --> 00:13:39.440
so they came here
because of the fact that

00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:40.999
it was cool by the beach.

00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:42.920
You'd go swimming.

00:13:42.999 --> 00:13:43.840
I mean, you'd have a day out.

00:13:43.999 --> 00:13:45.440
Now,

00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:46.640
what I like is,

00:13:46.800 --> 00:13:47.960
well, my wife will
kill me for saying it,

00:13:47.999 --> 00:13:50.120
but you can always tell

00:13:50.280 --> 00:13:51.320
who are the most
recent immigrants

00:13:51.480 --> 00:13:52.999
because they all come to
Coney Island. (laughs)

00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:55.200
I remember one of the
first times I was here.

00:13:58.520 --> 00:14:01.320
I was 24.

00:14:01.480 --> 00:14:02.999
A black guy grabbed
my wrist, like this.

00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:08.040
He went like that.

00:14:08.200 --> 00:14:09.000
He said, "Give me your camera."

00:14:09.160 --> 00:14:11.800
And I said, "You must be
fucking kidding." (chuckles)

00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:13.975
I said, "Take a fucking
walk," you know?

00:14:13.999 --> 00:14:16.360
That was it, but, you know,

00:14:16.520 --> 00:14:17.560
you had that kind of characters.

00:14:17.720 --> 00:14:19.920
Well, I'm pretty fearless,

00:14:19.999 --> 00:14:21.680
well, not stupid, but

00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:23.720
I know where I
feel secure or not.

00:14:32.560 --> 00:14:33.999
If they play "Coney
Island Baby," that
would really be good.

00:14:37.720 --> 00:14:41.080
That's one of my
favorite Doo-Wop songs!

00:14:41.240 --> 00:14:43.800
(doo wop crooning)

00:14:43.960 --> 00:14:47.999
Are you taping any of this?
- [Voiceover] Yeah.

00:14:48.040 --> 00:14:49.999
♪ So young ♪

00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:55.960
(hip hop rhythm and jazzy music)

00:15:03.520 --> 00:15:03.999
I'm basically,

00:15:08.680 --> 00:15:09.920
people might find
this hard to believe,

00:15:09.999 --> 00:15:11.760
but I'm basically
a shy person, okay?

00:15:11.920 --> 00:15:14.080
I didn't really like
to talk to people.

00:15:15.760 --> 00:15:17.999
I don't know if I had
a lot of confidence,

00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:19.840
except in sports, at that time.

00:15:19.999 --> 00:15:21.680
So I wanted to pick a place,

00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:24.280
Coney Island,

00:15:24.440 --> 00:15:25.320
'cause I lived in New York.

00:15:25.480 --> 00:15:26.840
And I'd only been to Coney
Island twice in my life before,

00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:29.680
so it wasn't like,

00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:31.000
even though I grew up there,
I'd never have gone there.

00:15:31.760 --> 00:15:32.840
I wanted to pick a
place that's near,

00:15:36.920 --> 00:15:38.320
where there are a lot
of interesting people.

00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:39.920
And, of course, 1967 was
different than 1945 or 50.

00:15:39.999 --> 00:15:44.000
But it was a place
where you could go.

00:15:44.160 --> 00:15:46.280
People are, there,
generally a little looser.

00:15:46.440 --> 00:15:48.999
So, I just went to Coney Island.

00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:50.960
And I continued.

00:15:50.999 --> 00:15:52.520
I liked it.

00:15:52.680 --> 00:15:53.920
But I work so close,

00:15:57.280 --> 00:15:59.240
that people don't realize
sometimes I take their picture.

00:15:59.400 --> 00:16:02.480
They look behind them,

00:16:02.640 --> 00:16:03.320
like, "That wasn't me."

00:16:03.480 --> 00:16:05.040
But for me, I wanna try to
get the guts out of somebody.

00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:08.400
I want their soul.

00:16:08.560 --> 00:16:10.320
And when I'm that close,
it has more energy.

00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:14.400
And it's funny.

00:16:14.560 --> 00:16:15.440
I don't crop my pictures.

00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:17.320
And, sometimes, it would be
wiser if I backed up a little.

00:16:17.480 --> 00:16:20.999
But I don't feel I have the
right thrust if I back up.

00:16:21.080 --> 00:16:24.120
You don't have
that in your face.

00:16:24.280 --> 00:16:26.240
So, to me, that's
very important.

00:16:26.400 --> 00:16:28.120
It's also very important
that I'm a blunt person.

00:16:28.280 --> 00:16:31.160
So, I'm not trying to hide.

00:16:31.320 --> 00:16:32.800
And you have to use stealth,

00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:36.600
otherwise, you
don't get the shot

00:16:36.760 --> 00:16:38.280
because then someone knows
you're gonna take their picture.

00:16:38.440 --> 00:16:40.920
Everything changes.

00:16:40.999 --> 00:16:42.360
But, I'm so close

00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:45.240
that it's not,

00:16:46.999 --> 00:16:47.999
the other shots like
most people work,

00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:49.999
there'd be like a stage set.

00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:51.800
I'm part of the whole situation.

00:16:51.960 --> 00:16:54.680
And I'm comfortable.

00:16:54.999 --> 00:16:56.560
(thoughtful music)

00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:03.520
- [Voiceover] Both the world
of fashion and magazines

00:17:03.680 --> 00:17:05.680
have found in Gilden
the right approach

00:17:05.840 --> 00:17:07.080
to authentic, original,
dynamic narration,

00:17:07.240 --> 00:17:09.999
from The Time's reportage
of the new candidacies

00:17:10.080 --> 00:17:12.680
for the seat of
Mayor of New York

00:17:12.840 --> 00:17:14.680
to the photo features for
Nike, Diesel, Burberry.

00:17:19.720 --> 00:17:20.440
His gaze does not change.

00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:26.560
His subjects follow
no aesthetic criteria.

00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:28.975
They live and perform,

00:17:28.999 --> 00:17:30.720
like in the mafia
funeral reportage,

00:17:33.280 --> 00:17:35.000
which has become a cult sequence
for style and narration.

00:17:35.160 --> 00:17:38.040
and, once again, the Mafia,

00:17:39.080 --> 00:17:40.840
as an excuse to narrate the
ordinary moments of daily life.

00:17:43.360 --> 00:17:44.400
- It's funny because
almost every,

00:17:48.520 --> 00:17:50.520
I won an award in Germany

00:17:50.680 --> 00:17:52.000
for my pictures in
Stern of the Yakuza.

00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:55.120
And there's a friend of mine

00:17:55.280 --> 00:17:56.560
who did pictures on

00:17:56.720 --> 00:17:58.000
the Firm in England.

00:17:58.160 --> 00:17:59.000
He won the award.

00:17:59.160 --> 00:18:00.240
So it's always like
they like that.

00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:02.120
They like the dark side of life.

00:18:02.280 --> 00:18:03.999
The idea of the mafia
funeral fashion shoot

00:18:06.600 --> 00:18:08.999
was my idea.

00:18:09.999 --> 00:18:11.280
The idea I had was,

00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:13.320
I was sitting at
the table over there

00:18:13.480 --> 00:18:15.360
in my apartment,

00:18:15.520 --> 00:18:17.400
and I said, "Wait a second.

00:18:17.560 --> 00:18:19.999
"I like the Mafia.

00:18:20.120 --> 00:18:20.999
"I do fashion.

00:18:21.040 --> 00:18:22.320
"So why don't I do a
story combining the two?"

00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:24.999
(abstract music)

00:18:25.120 --> 00:18:28.360
The original idea was that
I'm the head of the Mafia.

00:18:28.520 --> 00:18:32.760
You didn't know that, but, no,

00:18:32.920 --> 00:18:34.840
in the shoot, the
person who's gonna

00:18:34.999 --> 00:18:36.720
represent the protagonist is,

00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:38.160
he's dead.

00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:42.440
And he sees,

00:18:42.600 --> 00:18:43.280
he's in the grave, okay?

00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:44.640
But he sees, now,
when he's dead,

00:18:45.720 --> 00:18:47.760
all the people.

00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:48.975
His wife, his mistress
and everything.

00:18:48.999 --> 00:18:51.840
And how they all were
fucking him over.

00:18:51.999 --> 00:18:53.200
Like his second-in-command
was fucking his miss,

00:18:53.360 --> 00:18:56.280
you know, whatever.

00:18:56.440 --> 00:18:57.160
All this bullshit.

00:18:57.320 --> 00:18:58.680
So it was

00:18:58.840 --> 00:18:59.999
I wanted to have the angle
of the main Mafia guy.

00:19:00.200 --> 00:19:03.920
All the pictures
were shot from the,

00:19:03.999 --> 00:19:05.760
but we couldn't do it, okay?

00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:06.999
So the funny thing was

00:19:07.120 --> 00:19:08.600
that everybody refused it.

00:19:09.999 --> 00:19:12.640
Italian Vogue said,
"Oh, we got somebody

00:19:12.800 --> 00:19:14.880
"who can do that."

00:19:14.999 --> 00:19:16.120
But they can't do it like me.

00:19:16.280 --> 00:19:17.520
Magnum did a fashion
magazine on me.

00:19:19.560 --> 00:19:22.960
So we were able to
do it through them.

00:19:22.999 --> 00:19:24.840
Now, so my assistant called
up all the cemeteries around

00:19:24.999 --> 00:19:29.400
and all the Catholic
cemeteries said,

00:19:29.560 --> 00:19:32.360
"What, are you crazy?

00:19:32.520 --> 00:19:33.975
"We can't do that here!"

00:19:33.999 --> 00:19:34.999
The Jews said, "How
much?" (laughs)

00:19:35.120 --> 00:19:36.760
I'm Jewish, but...

00:19:36.920 --> 00:19:38.400
But I like that.

00:19:38.560 --> 00:19:39.160
I like that series.

00:19:39.320 --> 00:19:40.040
I think it's pretty good.

00:19:40.200 --> 00:19:40.999
(urgent pulsating music)

00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:45.880
- [Voiceover] Haiti is a
place of the soul for Gilden.

00:19:47.160 --> 00:19:50.000
A land in which he recaptures
the same vital force

00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:52.720
as the outlying streets of
the New York of his childhood.

00:19:56.560 --> 00:19:57.880
Preferred location since
his early years of activity,

00:20:01.720 --> 00:20:04.680
it has been narrated in
its roots, its colors

00:20:04.840 --> 00:20:07.320
and its dramas.

00:20:09.999 --> 00:20:10.880
- I've been in Haiti 22 times.

00:20:15.080 --> 00:20:16.880
I went 19 times
from 1984 to 1995,

00:20:18.080 --> 00:20:21.680
approximately two
weeks each trip.

00:20:21.840 --> 00:20:23.760
And then I thought I was
done with the country

00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:25.560
because once you do a book,

00:20:25.720 --> 00:20:26.840
that puts, like,

00:20:26.999 --> 00:20:28.000
you're never done,

00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:29.440
but it puts a sort
of closure on it.

00:20:29.600 --> 00:20:31.999
And then the
earthquake happened.

00:20:32.040 --> 00:20:35.440
(pensive music)

00:20:35.600 --> 00:20:36.400
I wanted to go right back.

00:20:36.560 --> 00:20:38.480
But, as I said, I
couldn't go right back.

00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:40.720
But I got there
five weeks later.

00:20:40.880 --> 00:20:42.200
And I've been there two
times after that first trip.

00:20:42.360 --> 00:20:45.120
My favorite country.

00:20:45.280 --> 00:20:46.999
Everybody I photograph,
I identify with.

00:20:52.040 --> 00:20:52.840
After the earthquake,

00:20:57.200 --> 00:20:58.999
Medicins Sans
Frontiers allowed me

00:21:01.760 --> 00:21:02.880
to go into their
hospital in Cite Soleil.

00:21:02.999 --> 00:21:06.320
And I walked in, and
I see all these people

00:21:07.560 --> 00:21:09.440
missing a leg, broken
hips, whatever,

00:21:09.600 --> 00:21:13.080
and this is five weeks
after the earthquake, okay?

00:21:13.240 --> 00:21:15.999
And I went in.

00:21:16.080 --> 00:21:17.600
I start dancing for them.

00:21:17.760 --> 00:21:18.960
I make 'em all laugh.

00:21:18.999 --> 00:21:20.400
I know some dirty
words in Haiti.

00:21:20.560 --> 00:21:22.840
In Creole.

00:21:22.999 --> 00:21:24.280
Sometimes I use them,

00:21:24.440 --> 00:21:25.240
depending on who I'm talking to.

00:21:25.400 --> 00:21:26.999
I'm open, I'm honest,
I make them laugh.

00:21:27.040 --> 00:21:29.999
They like me and I like them.

00:21:30.120 --> 00:21:31.760
For example, my heart
was broken there

00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:33.800
that one time,

00:21:33.960 --> 00:21:34.960
and I cried

00:21:34.999 --> 00:21:36.640
because

00:21:36.800 --> 00:21:38.000
I have a picture of it.

00:21:39.480 --> 00:21:40.360
It's in the book.

00:21:40.520 --> 00:21:41.720
It's not in the book,

00:21:41.880 --> 00:21:42.840
it's on the Magnum site.

00:21:42.999 --> 00:21:45.000
I always show it when I lecture.

00:21:45.999 --> 00:21:48.120
It's of a beautiful girl

00:21:48.280 --> 00:21:49.840
who's about, I'd say, early 20s,

00:21:49.999 --> 00:21:51.920
and she lost one of
her legs at the knee.

00:21:51.999 --> 00:21:55.080
And she's laughing.

00:21:55.240 --> 00:21:57.080
Laughter from the soul.

00:21:57.240 --> 00:21:59.280
I mean, she just
lost her fucking leg!

00:21:59.440 --> 00:22:01.999
I mean, she's laughing from the,

00:22:02.120 --> 00:22:03.640
I owe it to her.

00:22:03.800 --> 00:22:05.160
What strength!

00:22:06.760 --> 00:22:07.480
What courage!

00:22:07.640 --> 00:22:08.560
I mean, I cried 'cause,

00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:12.560
if there is a God up there,

00:22:12.720 --> 00:22:14.840
why her?

00:22:14.999 --> 00:22:15.999
You know, there are
plenty of other people

00:22:16.080 --> 00:22:17.760
that don't have
what she has inside.

00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:20.080
I love their spirit!

00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:21.999
I don't think,

00:22:25.999 --> 00:22:26.640
I'm not glorifying this.

00:22:26.800 --> 00:22:28.280
I don't think they always to
the best things for themselves

00:22:28.440 --> 00:22:30.880
because it's like a vicious
cycle of them going nowhere.

00:22:34.080 --> 00:22:34.999
And the other picture is one

00:22:39.240 --> 00:22:40.640
that I think is a
very good picture,

00:22:40.800 --> 00:22:42.440
much better than the
one of the smiling girl,

00:22:42.600 --> 00:22:45.120
is of a lady in a
camp that was built,

00:22:45.280 --> 00:22:49.680
a temporary camp across from
the Presidential Palace.

00:22:49.840 --> 00:22:52.840
And that was a candid shot.

00:22:52.999 --> 00:22:54.360
I saw her

00:22:54.520 --> 00:22:55.200
to my left.

00:22:56.280 --> 00:22:57.520
And I whirled and
I turned quickly

00:22:57.680 --> 00:22:59.200
with the flash in one hand,

00:22:59.360 --> 00:23:00.640
and I took a picture.

00:23:00.800 --> 00:23:01.480
I snapped it.

00:23:01.640 --> 00:23:02.999
And it's a strong picture.

00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:04.920
She's wearing like a man's coat.

00:23:04.999 --> 00:23:07.040
And she's young.

00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:08.480
When I say young, I say mid-20s.

00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:10.800
And every time my
wife sees that,

00:23:10.960 --> 00:23:13.360
she felt that she was violated
sexually the night before.

00:23:13.520 --> 00:23:16.999
And she may not be wrong because

00:23:17.120 --> 00:23:19.480
in the camps,
supposedly, at night,

00:23:19.640 --> 00:23:21.600
you have these
thugs that go around

00:23:21.760 --> 00:23:23.400
and do and take what they want.

00:23:23.560 --> 00:23:26.560
And also

00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:27.975
I've done the houses,

00:23:27.999 --> 00:23:29.360
the structures in
black and white.

00:23:29.520 --> 00:23:30.840
And then I went back
and I did 'em in color.

00:23:30.999 --> 00:23:33.160
That's very poignant
pictures for me

00:23:33.320 --> 00:23:35.520
because some of
these structures,

00:23:35.680 --> 00:23:38.320
you know, how do you live
in there for one day?

00:23:40.999 --> 00:23:41.480
(hopeful music)

00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:50.080
Black and white is
the abstraction.

00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:52.440
Color's the reality.

00:23:53.760 --> 00:23:54.975
So, for me, I see
in black and white.

00:23:54.999 --> 00:23:57.360
Now, having said that,

00:23:57.520 --> 00:23:59.975
in the last year,
year and a half,

00:23:59.999 --> 00:24:01.200
I've been working in color.

00:24:01.360 --> 00:24:02.720
But I still see in
black and white.

00:24:03.999 --> 00:24:05.760
I've walked around the
streets of New York

00:24:07.120 --> 00:24:08.720
with a friend of mine who's
also a street photographer,

00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:11.760
but he works in color.

00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:13.840
And he'll say to me,

00:24:13.999 --> 00:24:15.160
"Bruce, did you see that
person with the red kerchief?"

00:24:15.320 --> 00:24:18.200
I said, "What are
you talking about?"

00:24:18.360 --> 00:24:19.560
You know, because
I see differently.

00:24:19.720 --> 00:24:21.999
Now I'm going to a lot of
assisted living facilities

00:24:24.520 --> 00:24:27.960
and I'm photographing
the people there.

00:24:27.999 --> 00:24:29.760
And I'm photographing,
not exclusively,

00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:31.760
but a lot of women.

00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:33.520
And it's my catharsis.

00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:35.280
It's like, I guess,

00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:36.760
the ode to my mother.

00:24:36.920 --> 00:24:39.480
And I'm able to deal
with it now at 66.

00:24:39.640 --> 00:24:43.120
My mother had a pretty sad life.

00:24:43.280 --> 00:24:45.600
She was institutionalized,

00:24:47.400 --> 00:24:48.480
and she also eventually
committed suicide.

00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:50.999
And that's always been
very tough for me.

00:24:52.080 --> 00:24:53.920
Not the act of suicide,

00:24:53.999 --> 00:24:54.999
but I don't think
I gave her enough

00:24:55.120 --> 00:24:56.920
of what I should
give to a mother.

00:24:57.600 --> 00:25:00.080
I don't really photograph
my father or my mother.

00:25:02.760 --> 00:25:05.080
I photograph my experiences
with my father and my mother.

00:25:05.240 --> 00:25:08.999
There's a difference.

00:25:09.999 --> 00:25:11.120
I photograph

00:25:14.999 --> 00:25:16.240
the effect they had on me.

00:25:23.160 --> 00:25:23.960
(subtle reverberating)

00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:32.960
(gentle indie rock
and piano music)