Symbolism can be a very powerful tool in storytelling. In Life of Pi, there was the question of whether or not the animals were literal or representative of other humans, or on a bigger scale there is Pink Floyd: The Wall where the majority of the film is pure symbolism. With Better Man, that kind of falls in between the two.
Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman) directs a cast that includes Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies, Steve Pemberton, Kate Mulvany, Alison Steadman, and Raechelle Banno in the story of Williams life. Browing up in a broken family home, he finds a way out when he joins the boy band “Take That,” which becomes a worldwide phenomenon, and all that comes with it. Frome his personal life with family and relationships to the issues of addiction, he tells his story in a bit of a different way as he is represented as a CGI ape, but he is the only effects-generated character.
The look of this film is good and shows the UK in a great light, and I was interested to see how the CGI portion would affect the story itself. It was odd at first, but as the film went on, I got used to it and did not notice it as much. The cast is good as well, but my standout here is Jonno Davies who plays Robbie Williams stand-in for CGI reference. He does great job with Williams’ mannerisms and with the Williams himself and the narrator, it is a great mix that pays off.
If there is a drawback, it lies in Better Man’s run time. At about two hours and fifteen minutes long, about twenty minutes could have cut. Even though I know that this is a film about a musician (and this really should be the case in any film like this), the soundtrack is incredible. I expected the music to be good, but they raised the bar there. Adam Tucker actually does some of the singing for Williams that was not already there, and he does an incredible job. In real life, Robbie Williams has a love for the crooner style of artists like Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, and you truly see the influence in the soundtrack. When you expect a pop-dominated soundtrack and you get a rendition of “My Way”, it is a great surprise. This one of a very few films where I am actually interested in getting the soundtrack.
When it comes to the plot, it is kind of the same type of story to be expected of its type of the rise to fame, the fall due to addiction, and the rebound from it followed mending the burned bridges. Even with its length, the parts that seem like they could be cut out are made up by the power of some of the more emotional moments, especially towards the end. There are also some dream-type sequences that reminded me of the previously mentioned Pink Floyd: The Wall pretty strongly, which got a little strange at time for me, but I also understood why they were done. I will still recommend seeing Better Man at a matinee showing, and if a Dolby version is offered, I feel it would be worth it.
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