Buzz

This is one of the best docs I have seen in a long time!

The scenes of the marriage falling apart (or did it?) were stunningly intimate. I loved how muddy and messy everything was, with both Buzz and Lisa trying to figure out not only how to deal with Buzz's sexuality, but even to find the right words to describe it!

The documentary is told with gripping veriteé footage. Rather than "experts" opining on these issues, you see real people struggling through them.

"Buzz" (2019 release; 90 min.) is a documentary about the life and times of best-selling writer Buzz Bissinger ("Friday Night Lights", among many others). As the movie opens, we are in "Malibu, California", where he is collaborating with Caitlyn Jenner on her upcoming memoir about her transitioning from Bruce to Caitlyn. We then go to "Long Beach Peninsula, WA", where Buzz is talking a walk with his wife Lisa Smith and their two dogs. Along the way Buzz admits that "I've got a darkness, I've done a lot of damage." At this point we're 10 min. Into the movie.

Couple of comments: this is written and directed by Andrew Shea ("Wrestling Alligators"), who seemingly spent YEARS following Bissinger around for this film. Let me admit upfront that while I knew Bissinger had written FNL, I knew absolutely nothing about the man. The first half of the film focuses mainly on the author's professional side (his books). The second half of the film shifts significantly more towards the author's personal side, including his interest in leather dressing and cross dressing, S&M, and other related darker topics. And how does his wife deal with this? Just watch! I found it all mildly amusing, and enjoyed watching it, although I don't think I'd watch it again (too much other stuff to watch!).

"Buzz" premiered on HBO in 2019, and somehow I had missed this, but I recently stumbled on it on HBO On Demand. Presumably it's also available on HBO Max, Amazon Instant Video and other streaming services. If you are curious about the man behind the book "Friday Night Lights", I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

Gave this title a look just because it was on HBO -- and knew little more than that it was about the writer of the Friday Night Lights novel -- that the movie and subsequent TV series was based on. Was completely engaged right from the start by Buzz who seemed like a larger-than-life character and it wasn't until maybe 1/3 of the way in that it took a turn into Buzz's secret lifestyle and the struggles it has made him endure. The other main character besides Buzz's conflicted spouse was none other than Caitlyn Jenner; whose biography Buzz just got finished co-authoring -- and the portrayal of Jenner definitely caught us off-guard; in that she was sympathetic and a POV worth hearing. Though the film concentrated increasingly on Buzz's hidden life; it only occasionally felt uncomfortable and certainly never gratuitous or sensationalistic -- two traps it would have been so easy to fall into; more than anything a tribute to the engaging direction and production of the piece. Worth an hour and a half of your time for sure.

I don't get reviewers (fortunately not many here) saying this is shoving a perspective down our throat. All good art and literature and films help us to be empathetic with someone's experience, and that's what this does, incredibly well. You always have the choice not to watch the film - but you should.

Buzz is an engrossing, psychological study of a public figure wrestling with his obsessions and the impact they have on his personal life. The intimate access to Bissinger and his wife and his bare confessions expose the internal conflict of one who genuinely does not fit a mold in society and the weight that misfit status has on one's psyche. Director Andrew Shea has painted a rich portrait of his subject Buzz.