Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind

You'll laugh and you'll cry. Such a Powerful documentary. Many people in the entertainment industry have come and gone but this is by far the Toughest. :(

It's an HBO documentary special on late great comedian Robin Williams. It tackles his humor, his family, his addictions, and his sobriety. It doesn't shy away from the addictions but his comedy does lighten the hit. It isn't the darkness of reality but it is how he dealt with it. The most fascinating is after Awakenings when he starts diving into mental illness. No one can truly get inside his manic mind but it gives us a glimpse. As a bio, it hits all the landmarks. It isn't going inside his mind as advertised. It is a witness to his journey and that is the best that one can hope for. One thing is for sure. No one can ever really play him in a biopic. Not only is his an original. No one can hope to copy him.

I watch this documentary with a heavy heart. You never get to see the struggles that some actors have had to go until they retire or die. Watching this shortly after he would have celebrated his 67th birthday, it is difficult to put all that content and that much energy in an HBO special in just under 2 hours, but they manage to do so. When you watch this, it will leave you nothing short of wanting to binge watch everything Robin Williams has touched. Growing up to most of his movies, in the peak of his time, brings me back to my childhood. I can't remember the amount of times I've seen Mrs. Doubtfire, Aladdin, Good Will Hunting, and probably my favourite, Patch Adams, which I feel is borderline autobiographical, minus the medical aspect. I was really happy being able to see my childhood friend again and I know you will be too. I strongly recommend you watch this if you ever loved Robin Williams. You won't be disappointed.

He will be deeply missed. Millions of souls were touched and entertained by him. He was like a thunder on stage, saying joke after joke in a flawless way. Rest in peace.

Recently, I've noticed a particular pattern that HBO Documentaries tends to use for their productions: They aren't afraid to tackle an already-covered subject (like Andre the Giant or Robin Williams), and along with hitting all the important beats they somehow uncover new footage and conduct really impressive interviews.

This is exactly what happens in "Come Inside My Mind". Since his death in 2014 (and probably even before), Robin Williams has been the subject of many a documentary piece. This one covers maybe 70% of the same ground, but that other 30% is the key. In "Come Inside My Mind", I saw footage of both him and his work that I had never seen before. The interviews with his contemporaries are also riveting and seem to add new perspective rather than hit the same old beats.

The bottom line here is that it is tough to make a really good, original Robin Williams documentary these days, but HBO pretty much manages to nail it here. While a scene or two here or there might feel a bit derivative, for the most part this is a very well-produced look at Williams both in front of and behind the cameras.