davidusa-68904

This is much more than a doc about a pop star. This is a searingly honest examination of one very lucky and very talented working class kid's rise to the zenith of pop stardom. First, allow me to come clean by outing myself as one of Robbie's haters back when he first went solo -- gleefully waiting for him to fall on his face with his cover of 'Faith'. But the brilliance of 'Angels' and 'Feel' converted me. Must also admit I found his cheeky chappie thing grating but that's more a commentary on me than him (too judgemental). The format this takes with Robbie completely at home (literally) reviewing his life while holding nothing back was a fascinating and deeply moving one. It's what I imagine Heaven might be like when you have to account for all you did on this Earth. To see this hugely affable and unaffected man so intelligently articulate lessons learned was really lovely to witness. Having examined the topic of fame in-depth with other work I've engaged in, the one conclusion I've been able to draw is that 'fame kills'. Not in this case. Here is a real dramatic redemption arc, not only on a very drug-related personal level but also on a larger scale where Robbie reunites with 'Take That' who are all older and have matured beyond petty rivalries. As someone 6 years older than Rob, I wasn't the target audience for 'Take That' back in the day. I find it funny now that in the '90s I felt my cultural life was blighted by the scourge of 'Take That' in the music arena and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the film arena. Those two were ubiquitous, everywhere. If you didn't like them, tough. And now here we are, decades later -- I love Arnold as a person who has morphed into a wise and unaffected (again that word) elder statesman and I love those 'Take That' boys who all seem like great human beings. There's a real poignancy to all this and at many moments during this doc I was close to tears. Maybe it's just me getting older. Or maybe it's that old canard; "Ugly building, whores and politicians become respectable with age". To that we can add cultural icons who learn from life and share those lessons.

-- P. S. 'The Guardian' reviewer gave this a 2-star review which pretty much affirms one of the underlying conjectures of the doc. I know it's all subjective but still.... infuriating.

Thank you, Mr. Williams for sharing and love to you and your family.

This doc is frankly ridiculous. Mark Cousins had access to a fascinating trove of material and the man himself (who he refers to as 'the prince') riding with him yet he manages to create something unwatchable and frequently incomprehensible. I hope for the sake of his own legacy that Mr. Thomas disowns what could easily pass for a parody called 'The Pretentious Critic'. Here's a quote from outside the Lumiere factory; "Workers streaming out like a river .... the source of the Nile". I mean.... What????

I bailed out, but my wife informs me it got worse, complete with footage of Mr. Cousins swimming naked. In a doc about Jeremy Thomas? Again.... What????

I was looking forward to this but, alas, it was sunk below the waterline by an overly complex storyline which wasn't nearly as clever as it wanted to be. Some glaring inconsistencies throughout -- Johnny Flynn's character holding a gun to Zoey Deutsch's head while Mark Rylance lies to cover for him and all this IN FULL VIEW OF THE HEAVY WITH THE SHOTGUN who can see that Flynn's character is threatening Rylance's character to lie for him. Yanked me right out of the movie. Also, Zoey Deutsch is about to get horribly tortured, then takes a time out to listen all sympathetic to Mark Rylance's sob story -- forgetting that she's ABOUT TO BE HORRIBLE TORTURED in a minute? Seriously? And the performances -- I'm sorry but Johnny Flynn is a weak actor. After his Bowie turn I don't know how he's still working. And Mark Rylance? After Bridge of Spies I was prepared to give him the doubt but .... the guy is a charisma blackhole. This doe-eyed one note sleepwalk/trance thing he does in EVERY movie, is getting reealllllly old. Not a good movie. Okay, rant over. Excuse the CAPS, the movie brought made me go ALL CAPS! (and giving it 6 because technically it was relatively well made)