Better Man: La Historia de Robbie Williams

An absolutely unhinged, emotional, and impactful cinematic achievement. The visual creativity shines through with the hardcore drug-induced sequences having a touch of a fantasy element while unapologetically exploring the mental health of Williams.

It offers something new and refreshing, giving audiences a different perspective on this whole biopic formula. It becomes very bleak and explicit, not afraid from showing the reality of fame, parental abandonment, depression, addiction and self-harm.

You're probably thinking it's just another biopic, why even bother, they all have the same cliches-but everything depicted actually happened to Williams, so you can't compare it to other films that make stuff up to enhance the story dramatically. He went through EVERYTHING. He even described the whole viewing experience as the equivalent of "going to therapy."

Although there are familiar tropes, it dives deeper into the thematic material more than you'd expect and has the balls to do what other biopics can't.

The biggest controversy surrounding the film was the CGI monkey, but its presence feels so seamlessly integrated that you hardly give it a second thought.

This is the first and last time we will ever get something like this so enjoy it while it lasts. Extremely experimental yet so captivating with many moments which hit you hard in many ways.

People online who don't know who Robbie Williams is are saying "oh, he did the Finding Nemo and Cars 2 credits songs and made a 5 second TikTok song, why does this random British musician who hasn't been popular since the 2000's need some biopic?". Every single comment section for a promotional video for this film includes a comment similar to that where I just get furious. America isn't the only country in the world. Honestly, most of us didn't know what Hamilton was until it went on Disney+.

Robbie Williams' lyrics have mentally pushed me through the last few months. He knows what people are going through and isn't afraid to acknowledge the silence in our lives. Specifically Come Undone, Feel, and Something Beautiful, are the ones that define me. These songs have been out forever, and I'm so glad that younger audiences, like myself, who go out to see this, can discover such material.

This ain't no normal biopic. Go see it and give it a chance. You will not regret it, trust me. Maybe you weren't expecting to see it, but surprises like going out to watch it can have such an impact, more than you know-just like it did on me. I wasn't keen on seeing this. Not at all. Little did I know, it changed me to become a better man.

"Better Man" is a surprising flick.

Not because of the monkey, the effect of that gimmick wears off pretty quickly. Although it is surprising how fast I became accustomed to the singing chimpanzee and how invested and heartened I got by the story.

But even though all of that is true, the main motive for my astoundment was how honest the movie was.

"Better Man" gives us a very raw look into Robbie Williams life, flaws and all. Actually, his flaws are what's under the spotlight. Even the choice of representing himself as an ape reflects that. At the beginning of the movie, Robbie's voice-over explains to us that we are about to see how he sees himself.

William's suffered from eating disorders, self-image problems and a multitude of mental health and drug related issues. "Better Man" doesn't shy away from the various factors that forged this hellish psychological landscape and offers us interesting insight into the life and mind of an artist that, on top of all that, also suffered from "fame".

Despite this, I found the movie to be an assault on the senses. It's too much all the time, with brief moments of rest inbetween. After the story picks momentum, it doesn't stop. Conversations mend with narration. Each event unravels into the next. An emotional moment turns into song and it never lets up. At 2 hours and 15 minutes runtime, it's a very tiring ordeal. Nonetheless, it's narratively cohesive and it makes sense to be like this. It even makes sense that the film offers us zero introspection. It's all a fitting portrayal of the person it aims to represent on-screen and consistent with its objective of entertaining audiences. It's just a shame it didn't reach one.

Better Man (2024) is a movie I first heard about from Fantastic Fest back in September and I thought that this was the most ridiculous thing I've heard about all year long. Then I watched the movie and it kicked a lot of ass.

Positives for Better Man (2024): Now on paper, this is a movie that shouldn't have worked for me and somehow the filmmakers actually got me to care about the story of Robbie Williams as a CGI ape via Planet of the Apes. Yes, I know it sounds like I made that stuff up, but I swear that this is a real movie. There are moments where I cared about what was happening in the story. I also have to give props to the filmmakers for making this a fantasy musical because as wacky as the movie is, everything about it worked for me. And finally, this movie is a perfect example of how to take a ridiculous premise for any movie and actually get audiences to care about the story and the characters.

Overall, Better Man (2024) is one of the biggest surprise for in 2024 and I am so happy that I love this movie. This is one of the movies that I will be recommending to people the most.

The documentary that follows the struggles of pop star Robbie Williams as he navigates his way through fame.

I shall start by saying I am not a Robbie Williams fan. He's had some great tracks out in the past, I actually know all the words to Angels, and that's only 1 of about a dozen songs I know all the words to, 9 of them being Taylor Swift songs. But anyway, my friend wanted to see the film as she is a big Williams fan so I agreed to accompany her and boy, am I glad I did.

Why is there an ape instead of Robbie Williams? Well Williams claims that fame is dogged by people expecting him to be a performing monkey. And I concur with that. You only have to watch modern chat shows to realise that all people want their stars to do is perform like a monkey for them. This is Robbie at his most truthful, telling it like it is without fear of repercussion. I like him already, as I like truthful people. This though extends into his film too. His film is not about his music, there's only 2 or 3 tracks played the whole way through. The film is not even really about his fame directly: the film is about him. How he copes (or does not) with fame, how he copes with competition (or does not) how he copes with rejection and frustration, (or does not), how he revels in drink and drugs and how he eventually sinks so low and alienates his closest friends that he has to seek therapy to bring him back to a functioning human.

It is a staggeringly honest film and he does not shirk from his mistakes, nor the mistakes of others. He does not portray himself as a victim although in some ways I think he was. He wants everyone to understand who he is, who he was, and what shaped him to this point.

The cinematography is exquisite. The lighting and colours beautiful, the dancing at times is mesmerising: the scene in the main street that appears to have thousands of people in is just cinematic perfection. The CGI ape dances like the best dancer in the world and it is so great to watch I was actually taken aback by how beautiful it was.

I now have a positive opinion of this man who can bare his soul to all and sundry and do it with panache and style and brutal honesty. I would urge anyone who likes cinema to watch this film just for the cinematic experience if nothing else. Kudos to Erik Wilson (cinematographer), beautiful work. I gave it a solid 8.

I think how you view this film might depend on whether you have a bit of empathy or familiarity towards Robbie Williams, or at least like his music. If you don't have that empathy, or familiarity with his tunes/background, then this is more a saga about what the music scene, some years ago (and maybe now?) can do to an individual.

On the other hand, you could also view this as one "oh dear, look at me and how hard I found fame, given my tough background" self indulgent mea culpa.

I have to say, though, I enjoyed it. I think I must be on the empathetic, like the music side of things.

The idea of having a CGI monkey is excellent, if Robbie, or a look alike (maybe it is one) had starred, it would have felt far more self indulgent. As it was, it was watchable, well written and directed.

The film was, however too long (by about 15-20 mins), the middle too repetitive, and the ending too schmalzy. Still, the music is good and, generally not overdone (I hate musicals).

Worth a watch.